The
Volvo C70 is an
automobileAn automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
manufactured by
Volvo CarsVolvo Cars, or Volvo Personvagnar AB, is a Swedish automobile manufacturer founded in 1927 in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, and currently owned by Ford Motor Company....
in two generations: the first from model years 1997-2002 as
coupéA coupé or coupe is a closed car body style, the precise definition of which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and over time...
and from 1997-2005 as a softop
convertibleA convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle. Many different automobile body styles are manufactured and marketed in convertible form....
. The second generation C70 has been marketed since 2006 as a retractable hardtop.
Volvo introduced the first generation C70 at the 1996 Paris Motor Show, following a European introduction as a 1997 model, and later as a 1998 model in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
— with both low-pressure (2.4L) and high-pressure (2.3L),
5-cylinderThe straight-five engine or inline-five engine is an internal combustion engine with five cylinders aligned in one row or plane, sharing a single engine block and crankcase...
, turbocharged
petrol engineA petrol engine is an internal combustion engine with spark-ignition, designed to run on petrol and similar volatile fuels....
s and
manualA manual transmission, or manual gearbox is a type of transmission used in motor vehicle applications...
and
automatic transmissionAn automatic transmission is an automobile gearbox that can change gear ratios automatically as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...
s.
The
Volvo C70 is an
automobileAn automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
manufactured by
Volvo CarsVolvo Cars, or Volvo Personvagnar AB, is a Swedish automobile manufacturer founded in 1927 in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, and currently owned by Ford Motor Company....
in two generations: the first from model years 1997-2002 as
coupéA coupé or coupe is a closed car body style, the precise definition of which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and over time...
and from 1997-2005 as a softop
convertibleA convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle. Many different automobile body styles are manufactured and marketed in convertible form....
. The second generation C70 has been marketed since 2006 as a retractable hardtop.
First generation (1997-2005)
Volvo introduced the first generation C70 at the 1996 Paris Motor Show, following a European introduction as a 1997 model, and later as a 1998 model in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
— with both low-pressure (2.4L) and high-pressure (2.3L),
5-cylinderThe straight-five engine or inline-five engine is an internal combustion engine with five cylinders aligned in one row or plane, sharing a single engine block and crankcase...
, turbocharged
petrol engineA petrol engine is an internal combustion engine with spark-ignition, designed to run on petrol and similar volatile fuels....
s and
manualA manual transmission, or manual gearbox is a type of transmission used in motor vehicle applications...
and
automatic transmissionAn automatic transmission is an automobile gearbox that can change gear ratios automatically as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...
s.
Peter HorburyPeter Horbury is a British car designer currently in charge of all design for Volvo Cars . He is probably best known for his design work for Volvo where he was Design Director during 1991 to 2002...
designed the exterior and Mexican designer Jose Diaz de la Vega led the interior design team.
The C70 broke Volvo's decades-long styling tradition of boxy, rectilinear designs. According to Peter Horbury, Volvo's design chief from 1991 to 2002, with the C70, Volvo threw away the box, but "kept the toy inside!" Our vision was to design a convertible that would meet the needs of a family of four looking for comfortable blue-sky motoring in a vehicle also providing stylish looks, performance and faultless driving and road-holding."
In a development program of 30 months and working with a
Volvo 850The Volvo 850 is a compact executive car produced by Volvo Cars from 1992 to 1997 and designed by Jan Wilsgaard. Available in sedan/saloon and station wagon/estate body styles, the Volvo 850 was notable as the first front-wheel drive vehicle from this Swedish manufacturer to be exported to North...
-derived
platformAn automobile platform is a shared set of common design, engineering, and production efforts, as well as major components over a number of outwardly distinct models and even types of automobiles, often from different, but related marques....
, Britain’s TWR (
Tom Walkinshaw RacingTom Walkinshaw Racing , was a racing team founded in 1976 by touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw.TWR started by modifying BMW 3.0 CSLs, but soon was contracted to head Mazda's works program in the British Touring Car Championship. The TWR developed RX-7, with Win Percy in the driving seat, won the...
) co-designed the car's basic design and suspension tuning with Volvo. Manufacture of the C70 was a joint venture until the two companies experienced disputes that threatened to interrupt production; TWR did not contribute to the second generation C70.
Volvo's first modern convertible, the C70 was manufactured in
UddevallaUddevalla is a city and the seat of Uddevalla Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 30,513 inhabitants in 2005.It is located at the bay Byfjorden, of the south-eastern part of the sea known as Skagerrak...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
on a separate assembly line from the 70-series sedan and
station wagonA station wagon is a passenger automobile with a body style similar to a sedan, or saloon, but with the roofline following the full, sometimes extended rear cargo area and sometimes an extra row of sometimes rear-facing seats, ending with a more vertical door than on a hatchback.Also sometimes...
. The four-seater convertible featured an electrically-heated glass rear window, automatic (pop-up) rollover hoops, seat belt pre-tensioners, boron steel reinforced A-pillars, front and side airbags, and a safety cage — a horseshoe like structure around the passenger compartment.
The cloth convertible top, initially available in four colors, was fully automatic, operated by a single, dashboard-mounted button. The top stored automatically under an integral rigid
tonneauright|thumb|260px|1903 [[Ford Model A]] rear-door TonneauTonneau in modern use describes a bed cover for a pickup truck. It can be hard or soft. Hard covers optionally hinge or fold....
cover in a system pioneered in modern convertibles with the fourth generation
Mercedes SLThe Mercedes-Benz SL is a roadster manufactured by Mercedes since 1954. The designation SL derives from the German Sport Leicht, or Sport Light — and was first applied to the 300SL 'Gullwing' named also after its "gullwing" or upward-opening doors...
.
The C70 convertible exhibited two negative traits endemic to convertibles: poor rear visibility and pronounced
skuttle shake, a characteristic whereby the structural design of the bulkhead between engine and passenger compartment of a convertible suffers sufficiently poor rigidity to negatively impact ride and handling — and to allow noticeable vibration, shudder or chassis-flexing into the passenger compartment.
An early special editions featured two-tone leather interior, SC-901 (1998) Dolby Pro Logic I stereo with 3-disc integrated changer unit (via a cartridge) 500 watts of power and 12 high end
DynaudioDynaudio is a Danish loudspeaker maker, founded in 1977. Originally Dynaudio built speakers using their own crossover but relying on OEM drivers, but later they started to make their own drivers...
speakersComputer speakers, or multimedia speakers, are speakers external to a computer, that disable the lower fidelity build-in speaker. They often have a low-power internal amplifier. The standard audio connection is a 3.5mm stereo jack plug often colour-coded lime green for computer sound cards...
.
The C70 was introduced to the press in a signature color (saffron orange metallic) and for the debut marketing, the 1997 movie
The SaintThe Saint is a 1997 film based on the character of Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris in 1928 for a series of books published as "The Saint." Aside from the book series, which ran until 1983, the character has also featured in a series of Hollywood movies made between 1938 and 1954, a 1940s...
featured a C70 — recalling the notable connection of the
Volvo P1800The Volvo P1800 is a sports car from Volvo.-History:The project was started in 1957 because Volvo wanted a sports car, despite the fact that their previous attempt, the P1900, had been a disaster, with only 68 cars sold. The man behind the project was an engineering consultant to Volvo, Helmer...
and the TV series from the early 1960s,
The SaintSimon Templar is a British fictional character known as the Saint, featured in a long-running series of books by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date, other authors collaborated with Charteris on books, until 1983; two additional works produced without Charteris'...
with
Roger MooreSir Roger George Moore KBE is a English actor and film producer. He is perhaps best known for portraying two British action heroes, Simon Templar in the television series The Saint from 1962 to 1969, and James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
as Simon Templar.
Second generation (2006-present)
The second generation C70 model was launched on 13 April, 2006, sharing the
Volvo P1 platformThe Ford C1 platform is Ford's global compact car automobile platform. It replaces Ford's C170 platform and Mazda's BJ platform. The C1 platform debuted with the European Ford Focus C-Max compact MPV in early 2004...
, designed by John Kinsey and built by
Pininfarina Sverige ABPininfarina S.p.A. is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder in Cambiano, Italy.Founded as Società anonima Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in 1930 by automobile designer and builder Battista "Pinin" Farina, Pininfarina has been employed by a wide variety of high-end automobile manufacturers,...
. The three-piece retractable hardtop raises or lowers in under 30 seconds and replaces both the convertible and the coupé, the latter which had been absent from Volvo's lineup since 2003. The C70 is offered with a normally-aspirated gasoline engine with variable geometry turbocharger and common-rail direct injection.
The
Insurance Institute for Highway SafetyThe Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is a U.S. non-profit organization funded by auto insurers. It works to reduce the number of motor vehicle crashes, and the rate of injuries and amount of property damage in the crashes that still occur...
in the United States recently conducted its first crash tests of several convertibles and designated the C70 a "Top Safety Pick".
Safety systems include a door-mounted side impact protection inflatable which inflates upward when activated. The curtain has an extra stiff construction with double rows of slats that are slightly offset from each other. This allows them to remain upright and offer effective head protection even with the window open. The curtain also deflates slowly to provide protection should the car roll over. This is a unique solution in the automotive world.
The C70 retractable hardtop also features a
roll over protection structure (ROPS)Roll Over Protection Structure refers to operator compartment structures intended to protect equipment operators from injuries caused by vehicle overturns or rollovers.Commonly found on heavy equipment Roll Over Protection Structure (ROPS) refers to operator compartment structures (usually cabs...
with two
pyrotechnically chargedPyrotechnics is the science of materials capable of undergoing self-contained and self-sustained exothermic chemical reactions for the production of heat, light, gas, smoke and/or sound...
roll hoops hidden behind the rear seats that deploy under roll-over conditions whether the roof is retracted or not.
2011 update
Volvo will introduce an updated version of the C70, in new Flamenco Red Pearl paint, at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show.. The new C70 includes a redesigned front end, new rear LED lamps, and a redesigned, wider instrument panel. Engine and transmission remain the same as before. It will go on sale in 2010, as a 2011 model in North America.
External links