Volvo goes to extreme
Volvo is currently taking things to the extreme - three highly customised Volvo C30 Sports Coupes are currently going the show rounds, and the Volvo-engined Caresto V8 Speedster has just been unveiled in Los Angeles, too.
Volvo's North American operation has linked up with three specialist tuning firms to produce three highly modified, high performance versions of the new Volvo C30 Sports Coupe.
They've been built purely as design concepts and prototypes, each of the tuning companies took a decidedly individual approach to creating an ultimate Volvo C30.
But they're so good, and look so appealing, that it will be hard for Volvo to say no to the customers who will want them to become street legal production machines.
Volvo supplied each specialist tuner with a C30 T5 version, with a six speed manual transmission, and they came up with cracking coupes.
First up is the IPD C30, a hi-tech, high style C30. Producing 384bhp, the IPD C30 interior is full of electronic fun and has a customised interior, with a touch screen in the floating centre stack plus gull-wing style doors.
Then there's the Evolve C30 concept, which offers ultimate performance with more than 500bhp achieved through the use of sequential twin turbochargers, plus sophisticated race-inspired suspension and gigantic brakes.
Finally, the Heico Sportiv/Burton Snowboard C30 model is a joint collaboration between German tuner Heico Sportiv and Burton Snowboard. Fully driveable, with 300bhp and electronically controlled all-wheel drive, the Heico C30 has custom-cut Toyo tyres, and a complex six-layer camouflage paint job designed to blend in with mountain environments.
The Caresto V8 Speedster has just had its first outing, too, and it is powered by Volvo's 4.4-litre, V8 engine converted to run on ethanol. The mid-engined Speedster is basically a hot rod created by Swedish specialist car maker Leif Tufvesson.
Tufvesson, a former Volvo employee, plans to build just six of these cars, for a price tag of around £200,000.
