Volvo S60 Concept drives itself in stop-start traffic

Interior indicates future design direction

With the interior of the Volvo S60 Concept, Volvo Cars' design director Steve Mattin and his team are displaying a variety of new ideas. The interior is packed with exciting details, all of which together create a Scandinavian fresh light feeling. "You could say that we are showing the road we would like to take in the future. This interior is without doubt the most exclusive we have ever created," says Steve Mattin. In the middle of the four-seater car sits the floating centre stack made out of handmade, solid Orrefors crystal. It floats like a gentle wave from the instrument panel all the way to the rear seat backrest.

Driver-oriented environment

The driver's environment has been designed to provide good visibility and convenient control. The combined instrument too has the centre stack's floating, almost weightless feel about it and is built up in several layers. "The speedometer is designed as a three-dimensional glass spiral. The low numbers appear closest to the eye and the figures appear to be increasingly distant as you accelerate. The idea is that the speedometer should provide a visual reminder of the forward motion," explains Steve Mattin.

Slim, floating leather seats

The floating theme continues in the concept car's slim, lightweight contoured seats, made of soft Light Blond leather with contrasting stitching. The seats are attached to the centre console's lower section and inner sill, which means that they don't actually touch the floor. Both the seat belt and the armrest are integrated into the seat itself. The backrest's pony-tail slot, first featured in previous concept cars, has a new, slightly asymmetrical design.

"The aim is to create a pleasant living-room atmosphere with gentle, invisible transfers between the various surfaces. For instance, the dark, ecologically tanned saddle leather on the floor continues up on the lower part of the door," relates Steve Mattin. The upper part of the doors is faced with genuine blond birch wood of the same colour as the Scandinavian coastline's salt- and sun-bleached wooden piers and driftwood.

New technology detects pedestrians in the danger zone

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