Volvo S60 Concept Finds Humor & Some…

Look closer and you’ll get the joke

By Gunnar Heinrich

ADMITTEDLY Volvo has been off ADL’s radar for some time.

If you parse through the thousand some odd columns posted on Automobiles De Luxe, there may be nine that are devoted to the Swedish automaker. And that’s funny considering how many more articles focus on Saab which drinks in the same social circles.

The cause for this, dear reader, has been more or less my own resigned disenchantment with the Volvo line post 850. Volvo cast off the (1990′s) 850′s sharp looks and sporting dynamics to embrace the bloated S80 in a horrific great leap forward that destroyed the Swedish automaker’s burgeoning performance cred.

The idea might have been that you could have your safety cage and drive it fast, too.

Some exceptions exists to the no sex while driving rule at Volvo. The C70 droptop takes the S40′s handsomeness and rolls with it. The XC90, for an SUV, also casts a kind profile. But having driven all three, I can say that they’re pretty uneventful, even sleepy undertakings. Which can’t be safe.

So, disillusioned, I only recently got around to taking a closer gander at Volvo’s upcoming S60 Concept that’s set to be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show. I got excited.

Not because it’s pretty (it isn’t) or that it’s unique in some bold way (it’s not), but because the S60′s designer has a sense of humor and put it to good use.  This Volvo comes with suicide doors.

A Volvo who’s company tag line is “Drive Safely” feature a concept even remotely risqué?

So, I read a little bit more about the man behind the plan – Steve Mattin – and discovered that his last job was at Mercedes-Benz. He’s responsible for the current S-Class; which is a significant improvement over Bruno Sacco’s last hurrah.

It’s unlikely that Mr. Mattin’s joke will make see production in the next S60. But what’s clear is that all that flame surfacing marks personality being injected back into a brand (forgive the word) that’s has forgotten the marketing buzz word of buzz words “sex”.

In his interviews Mr. Mattin euphemistically calls it “emotion” but we know what he’s driving at. Who knows? Perhaps with a little more time, money and sexual product development, this new emotion may just reep new dividends for the I-Roll people.

And that might end up putting Volvo on everyone’s radar.

[Linked: Mattin Interview | S60 Concept]