Year after intro 850, preview of Volvo S80
Big Swedish Volvos were angular, and that’s that. Pretty clear, shall we say. And suddenly, in 1992, Volvo’s bright white, slippery concept car ECC appeared on the scene. Compared to the then common 240, 850 and 940 an almost ghostly appearance. The technique was equally magical.
In the Dutch brochure that Volvo distributed about the ECC (Environmental Concept Car) at the time, the model is referred to as ‘a realistic family car concept’. The gist of the story is that the ECC will meet the demands of tomorrow’s traffic on a car, with Volvo assuming that there will be an environmentally conscious society. It is not stated to which period Volvo is referring exactly, but the fact that the (automotive) world has made a major step in environmental awareness since 1992 is clear.
Volvos were still angular in 1992, the 850 that came in 1991, for example. The ECC has a Cw value of 0.23.
This is followed by a rhetorical question: ‘Would you like to drive a small car powered only by batteries, or do you need a family car designed for efficiency, environmental friendliness and safety?’ To ask the question is to answer it, because around the text are beautiful photos of the Volvo ECC, which is by no means a small, electric car. On the contrary, the ECC is a hefty four-door sedan, in which the technology of the then still brand new and very impressive Volvo 850 GLT was expected. Five cylinders, twenty valves, a beautiful rear axle and front-wheel drive: a great package of fun. Not so: the ECC turned out to be very different. The technology actually kept pace with the revolutionary design! For example, the body was built from aluminum and other easily recyclable materials. And the car turned out to be as slippery as it looked in the wind tunnel, because the technicians recorded a Cw value of 0.23.
Volvo focused on special technology, a gas turbine and an electric motor.
Under the car we still come across the Volvo 850, from which the ECC borrowed the bottom plate, plus the famous SIPS (Side Impact Protection System). The engine did not have five cylinders. Not even cylinders at all. Volvo opted for electric propulsion, with a gas turbine as the power station for the battery pack. The electric motor could operate alone in city traffic, and if the gas turbine was ignited, the emissions would be ‘extremely low’, entirely in line with the consumption that was estimated ‘a lot lower’ than that of petrol engines. Viewed in this way, it is a pity that we have not heard anything more about this great concept. With all this beauty comes mature performance, as the brochure wants to let you know in advance: the top speed is 175 km/h and the acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h can be achieved in 13 seconds with all sails set. With that, the ECC moved at the same modest level as a Volvo 740 with the 2.0-litre base engine.
Volvo S80 just got a five-cylinder
In summary: the technology did not make it in this form. But the shape itself made it: it became Volvo’s new design language, which was first expressed in the S80 of 1998. And it simply had Volvo’s trusted five-cylinder.
This dashboard would form the basis for the interior of the S80 but also that of the second generation V70.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl