Volvo C30
The Volvo C30 is a small car produced by Volvo cars, a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company. The C30 is a three door car that has two doors for the driver and passenger respectively and a door that opens upwards across the full width at the back end (hatchback). It has a combination of being powered by straight-4 and straight-5 engines. The car uses the same platform as a previous version namely the Ford C1 (or Volvo P1) platform.
This car has undergone a rigorous marketing campaign. It is a “sports coupe” or in other words a premium hatchback. The design is customized for first time Volvo buyers and the youth market. 75% of the sales are targeted at the European market whilst production is expected to be 65,000 units a year.
The exterior design of this car is based on a previous version of Volvo, the 1800 ES. The chief studio designer of Volvo, Simon Lamarre stated that “this version has become a benchmark for all future Volvo designs”. The production car was revealed at the Paris Motor Show in the year 2006. The interior design is similar to the S40 and V50, with the majority of parts including the steering wheel, instrument panel and floating center stack being the same.
Around late 2006, the C30 was launched in Europe. It went on sale in the USA in October 2007 as a 2008 model and in Canada in March 2007 as a year 2007 model. The sound system includes a Dolby Pro Logic II surround, digital 5×130 watt ICE Power amplifier along with 10 loudspeakers from the Danish firm Dynaudio. The year 2008 saw some minor changes in the car including an auxiliary audio socket and adapting the interior to the newer versions of the S40/V50.
Further changes were made in the year 2009 and they were unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show. A new sport chassis was made available for it. Many new additions along with this have taken place including new exterior and interior color choices like the “Orange Flame Metallic” paint. The engine and transmission choices have remained the same. The front end including the grille, front body panels and headlights have been revamped. This new update will go on sale in the year 2010 as a year 2011 model in North America.
This car features a lot of safety measures which Volvo prides itself on including a Blind Spot Information System in the driver’s view to the rear which is used to overcome ‘blind spots’ or ‘dead areas’ so that the drivers risk of accidents are minimized. It also has a four-wheel anti-lock breaking system (ABS), electronic stability program (ESP) traction control and airbags all around for side impact and rollover protection.
