David Naylor: Blog

In less than three days, photos have been published on the web of both the next Volvo V70 and the XC70 – both in what seems like production-ready state.

This time around the spy photos ended up at Auto Motor & Sport. The third generation of Volvo’s Cross Country will get basically the same rear as the V70, but I think it works better on this plastic-clad mud eater. That could be because of the red reflectors added below the lights, the added mouldings or the fact that I’ve had time to get used to the design.

Discussions of the leaked photos and designs can be found at VVSpy.com. Let’s just say I’m not the only one …um… sceptical … about the design of the rear.

I almost fell over backwards today when I saw a photo of the new (MK III) Volvo V70.

What are they thinking at Volvo? Honestly. I tend to be positive about most things they do at Volvo, but that is just plain ugly. It’s hard to put it into words &ndash however, I’ll give it a go.

The lights are (or look) even larger than those on the current V70. And that’s no small feat from the design office! And the angled/hexagonal framing of the rear windscreen is alot of things, but definately not Volvo.

I don’t get it. They made the tail of the S80 so sleek and stylish – and now this! The new V70 is an entirely different beast.

Granted, I thougth the lights of the old V70 (Mk II) looked a bit odd too, and I always thought they should have put the bottom white patch further up.

Thankfully, the new V70 looks better from the side. The tailgate is more upright than on the V50, but still slightly angled. The wheelbase has been increased by 8 cm to 284 cm, which contributes to the powerful silhouette.

These spy pictures, published by Teknikens Värld, are of such good quality that you suspect an official leak, blessed by the company leadership. And since the car is going to be presented in the spring, I get a feeling they aren’t going to be making any changes to that Picaso of a rear end.

Teknikens Värld claim there’ll be a V70 R AWD sometime around 2008/2009. Supposedly it will have a turbocharged version of the V8 currently in the S80, producing 370 bhp! I’ll believe that when I see it. Volvo just don’t take that big steps in power. (The current top-of-the-line being the S80 V8 AWD with 315 bhp.)

Update: After having stared at that white thing quite a bit I guess I could get used to it. But I’m not the only one reacting the way I did when I first saw it…

Volvo presented the C30 Concept back in January. A week or two ago, the real C30 was presented. Just as expected, the real thing doesn’t look nearly as cool as the concept. Here’s a design comparison of the Volvo C30 Concept and the Volvo C30, with and without the optional bodykit.

Lets start off with the rear:

The C30 differs from the Concept on a few, but essential points. If nothing else, Volvo made one good decision: On the production car you get a rear wiperblade! The edgy exhaust pipes of the concept have been replaced by cheaper, round ones. Volvo have also stuck a pair of hideous red reflectors on the bumper, which completetly ruins the upmarket look that I presume they are aiming for. The beautiful mesh between the pipes has also gone. Thankfully, there is a bodykit to take back some of the C30’s lost splendor!

With the bodykit, the tacky black plastic is replaced with good-looking, painted plastic. The ugly red reflectors are replaced with sleeker, smarter ones. You also get slightly better looking CO₂ outlets.

Then we have the front:

At the front, Volvo scrapped the chunky grille overhang and replaced the sporty meshes with … guess what? Cheap(er) plastic. The progressive-looking headlights with light internal surroundings were swapped back for the S40 ones, although the cruel black eyelids were kept. That’s about as brave as it gets.

Once again, you’ll need the bodykit to spice things up a bit. Apart from adding a nice bottom lip, it gives you some nice side skirts:

Bottom line: To do the C30 justice, you’ll need to tick the box for the bodykit! And as you can see, a set of 18-inch Atreus wheels won’t look out of place either…

I just have to add that the patterned center console is absolutely gorgeous: