Both cars were a part of the Volvo Galaxy Project. Due the oil crisis and changed needs of consumers Volvo needed to change its path drastically. The new driver wanted a car that is smaller, bigger in the inside and much more economical.
Other manufacturers dropped the rearwheel-drive concept and were starting to use frontwheel-drive FWD. The space of the passenger compartment would increase a lot! The new project should also lead to a new engine and a new gearbox. Volvo started the Galaxy Project, not only to produce 2 series of new cars a small car and a bigger car , but also to develop new production methods and the usage of new materials.
The small car should be about kg and consumes 1 gallon per 35 miles and the bigger car about kg and a fuel consumption of 1 gallon per 30 miles. The first phase was a pilot study, which took place from till The team members of the Galaxy Project produced a new prototype, called the Volvo G4 which was ready in It has frontwheeldrive, new type gearbox and a 1. For the engine Volvo started developing the aluminium X transverse engine, a four-cilinder in-line engine which was suitable for frontwheel drive.
In September the Volvo G1 prototype was finished and renamed to G4. The G4 was designed by Jan Wilsgaard and had a transverse 1. The design of the final Volvo is almost the same! The G13 was designed in a way that it matches all American requirements, like the height of the headlights.
Detailed info about the development of the Volvo can be found below. In the design work of the Volvo G13 was started. About 80 sketches were made and Dan Werbin the product planner of the G1 said it was a though job to make the right decision. The G13 should be a sporty car which should be pretty practical, but with a very low fuel consumption. The G13 should be designed for the USA-market and should have a wheelbase of mm 2m40 , FWD as mentioned above and a length of mm 3m Bertone and Coggiola were also hired for designwork, but Coggiola was dropped in the stage before a clay model was produced.
Of the 80 sketches 4 designs were chosen and should be build as fullscale models. The Dutch proposal, designed by John de Vries. The final version of the Volvo is almost the same! In June it was time to make a decision which design should become the new Volvo. The design of the interior was made by Peter Horbury. This G13 prototype was already in the States in September ! One of the most difficult decisions of the G13 was how to determine the look of the front and the back.
Finally there were three designs left, see the picture below. Three sketches with options of the back of the Volvo G Another issue was how to design the final version of the front. Since the Volvo G13 was designed for the US-market there were some legislations which should be meet, like the bumpers bumpers should survive 5mph crashes without any damage and the height where the front lights should be mounted. Rob Koch and his design team wanted to create an aerodynamic look and not have a big grille with big headlights at the front, and to meet the US legislation they decided to use head-up headlights.
When the design was finished the legislation was changed but it would be too expensive and there was no time left to re-design the front. And it looked very cool! Three ideas for the front of the new Volvo coupe. Also the front grille of the car was a hard issue. The grille was mounted into the bumper, but Volvo Sweden wanted the logo and diagonal bar on the car. But placing it between the headlights just like all other Volvo cars, trucks, construction vehicles and buses would look a bit strange.
A nice solution was found based on the Ferrari-solution : re-designing the grille in the bumper and placing the chrome trim, logo and diagonal bar on it. Problem solved! Work in progress on paper for the Volvo G13 coupe.
Two other Volvo G13 prototypes with different logos on the car. The door lock is located just above the door, instead in the door. Another nice thing was the four seats of the car. The interior provides a lot of space and is very comfortable. The wheelbase of the car is also larger than the original plan: mm instead of the mm which was determined in the 70s , but if the wheelbase was shorter than the original plan the car was a lot smaller at the inside and the roadhandling would be worse.
Some spypics of a camouflaged Volvo during some test runs. After some heavy testing like the Australian desert for extremely hot conditions, winter tests in Lapland and a lot of trips in Germany and the Netherlands the car was finished in and the name of the finished G13 was Volvo Rob Koch and his team and of course the new Volvo The 1.
At the end of when production of Modelyear started the 2. The was produced in Born the Netherlands where the Volvo and also were build.
After delaying the export to the US several times and several years Volvo decided not to sell the car in the US. In the first production years of the Volvo had many problems with its electrical system. The electrical system was very complex and pulled out the battery within 2 weeks. The introduction of the Volvo was delayed because Volvo wanted to solve the problems of the Volvo before a new car was being introduced.
Otherwise the prototypes will end up in the shredder and now it could have a nice goal. Rob Koch liked the idea and made a contest for his design team: design a Volvo Cabrio and maybe it will be showed to the Volvo management in Sweden! Cor Steenstra and Steve Harper who was hired as a freelancer accepted this challenge and were starting a new nice project. The new Volvo cabrio should not be a simple car which is based on the coupe but with the roof cut away, but a car with his own image.
Since Volvo has the image to produce safe cars the Cabrio should also have a rollbar to protect passengers when a car would roll over at those days convertibles without a rollbar were a new trend. Some sketches of Steve Harper of the new Volvo Cabrio click on the image for a larger version. Rob Koch liked the design of Steve Harper very much and a prototype was made. Harper also made another sketch see above where the rear seats were removed and replaced by extra storage compartments.
It looked very good and the team decided to use this option including the bit higher rear and the door lock just above the door. Two sketches by Steve Harper how the Volvo Cabrio should become. Another design of the Volvo Cabrio and a prototype. These pictures and also pictures of a testdrive leaked out and were shown in some magazines. It seems the Cabrio project was on a dead end. But at the end of EBS a small Belgian coachbuilder, specialised in producing convertibles was approached by a Belgian Volvo-dealer and they informed at Volvo Cars in The Netherlands to continue the Cabrio project.
A new prototype was build, with an electrical roof and without a rollbar. Also the English company Motor Panels was involved in the reborn project and produced a prototype with rollbar and was based on the design of Steve Harper and the ASC prototype.
Volvo choose the Motor Panels-design and the car was presented at the Geneva Motorshow in March as a concept car, but Volvo announced production of the new convertible should start in the end Modelyear Volvo Owner's Manual.
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One of the features of the design of Volvo cars is the function of limiting the parameters of the operation of the units, which is activated when there are problems in the electronics of the machine. The car at the same time retains mobility, but not in full. Volvo, part of which the driver can learn and decipher independently. The first Volvo car came off the factory assembly line in Gothenburg in , and since then we have been moving from success to success, tirelessly creating revolutionary innovations.
Today, Volvo is a world-class company with production facilities in Sweden, Belgium and China. Volvo Car Group produces a line of premium cars, which includes sedans, station wagons, sports universals, off-road cars and SUVs. Volvo Trucks - production of trucks under the brand Volvo, integrated transport solutions. Mack Trucks - North American truck production under the brand Mack. UD Trucks - production of trucks, buses, bus chassis and engines under the name Nissan.
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