Volvo Cars is showing the all-new Volvo XC70 at the ispo Sport & Style trade show in Munich, 8-10 July.This is quite a natural place to be, as the all wheel drive Volvo XC70 is all about adventure and an active life. Something it has in common with the near 30,000 visitors to the show.
Or as Lex Kerssemakers, SVP Brand, Business and Product Strategy puts it: "The new Volvo XC70 has been developed for people who want to realise their dreams. It has the right attitude,
capacity, and equipment for enjoyable drives to and from adventure."
Volvos presence at the ispo shows is growing. At the winter ispo, Volvo Cars together with ispo have organised the Volvo Sports Design Forum and the Volvo Sports Design Award since 2003, where young and coming sports designers get to show their creativity. This year, the theme was personalisation, and one of the winners of the award was the Swiss bicycle expert BCM.
The winning bike, a Pro Machine SLC01, is on display in the Volvo stand. Look at the roof of the XC70, where the bike is easily mounted, as the custom-made bike frame weighs less than one kilogram.
"I like this bike because it is so easy to personalise" says Jonathan Disley, Studio Chief Designer at Volvo Car Corporation, who was a member of the jury in the 2007 Sports Design Award.
Together with Volvo Cars' core values safety, quality and environmental care comes the brand value modern Scandinavian design.
"We strive to show our cars and our way of thinking to a design interested audience", says Jonathan Disley. "In the last years, we have been active in the Milan furniture show, at the fashion weeks in Paris and Moscow and of course, at the ispo Sports Design in Europe and China.
"We know that a lot of our customers never go to auto shows, so we come to where the customers gather."
This has a double benefit. Volvo Cars gets to meet new customers, and Volvo's designers, get instant inspiration. They pride themselves in not getting all their inspiration from the automotive world, but also look at fashion, contemporary furniture, shoes and sports design amongst other things.
"I simply thrive when I can look at great design from a totally different industry and get enthusiastic over a line here or a detail there", says Jonathan Disley.
Given that it takes a number of years to develop a new car, the task to be modern is slightly more complicated than for products with a shorter development cycle. Also, a car model has to be timeless enough to last some 15 to 20 years, without the second or third hand owners feeling that is is outdated.
"We have no crystal ball, but work with the big design influences rather than the day-to-day fashion. Luckily, modern Scandinavian design has a certain timelessness built in, says Jonathan Disley interior designer of the Volvo XC70. "I get a lot of my inspiration from nature, and luckily, nature never goes out of style."
Other cars on display at ispovision are:
* The all-new Volvo V70, that in a contemporary fashion builds on Volvos history of great estates.
* The Volvo C30, a cool hatchback that is inspired by board sports. Don't miss the surf pattern in brushed aluminium on the floating centre stack inside the car.
* The CamoCar, a Volvo C30 is built by a German Volvo dealer and painted in a trendy camouflage pattern. The car is on display in the Design Tunnel together with other exclusive brands.
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