2008 C30 - Too Hot For Volvo?

A compact sport hatchback from Volvo? You take one look at the Volvo C30 concept and inevitably you can't help but wonder what the good folks in Scandinavia are drinking these days. All kidding aside, this is a perfect example of the 'ripple' factor. A new product comes along and essentially creates a market that didn't exist before, and then inevitably competition follows. I'm specifically referring to the Mini Cooper. Before the Mini Cooper showed up in North America, the idea of a premium-priced sport-hatchback aimed at the North American market was a non-starter. Sure, Europe's love affair with all things sporty and small has been ongoing for decades, but North America's love affair with this market segment is very recent and almost entirely stoked by the Mini Cooper's market introduction in 2001.

The Volvo C30 is clearly targetting the Mini Cooper market and if early specs are any indication of what might actually end up in the final C30 product, Volvo might do some damage here. Other competitors in this market include the Volkswagen Golf, BMW 1 and Audi A3. Volvo's concept C30s were sporting monster-sized 19-inch wheels and a 260hp engine and we'd be shocked if either of those features get a sniff of the showroom. As of now, North America is expected to get a T5 220hp turbocharged engine. Whether Volvo has aspirations to add the C30 to their 'R' line of race-bred cars is the question. A C30-R could conceivably match the concept's initial specs.

Volvo claims this car is a true 4-seater, but excuse me if I'm not in a rush to spend quality time in the rear seats of this baby. Truth be told, this is not exactly the first Volvo hatchback coupe. You have to go all the way back to the early 1970's to find some lineage in this concept - the Volvo 1800ES was booted from the product line in 1973, but it was a pretty hot ride in its day.

Volvo is also hard at work cooking up a 'hybrid' powered version of the C30. With an annual production run of 65,000 and 75% of that earmarked for Europe, Volvo's North American aspirations can be quantified in the 'conservative' 16,000 range. The 2008 Volvo C30 will hit showrooms later this year. This is a hot car from a car maker who is typically more concerned with getting you from A to B in one piece, not tickling your senses. Whatever the Swedish engineers are drinking these days, I'm liking it.

Volvo's created a pretty spiffy microsite for the C30. The 'don't click here' option on that site is hilarious.

via: automobilemag

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2008 C30 - Too Hot For Volvo?

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