Welcome to the feature section on Volvo’s new Adventure Concept Car, the ACC2.

There’s a lot of promise with this latest offering. I’ll be the first to admit that some aspects of the design leave a bit to be desired, but there are a number of intriguing features that I think would be very well suited to the V70XC.

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Please note that the following article is based solely on what I’ve observed from some very high resolution photos of this car and what’s been said in official press releases from Volvo Cars, North America.

Click on the thumbnails for a high resolution view of the feature being discussed.

Front End
OK, the first thing we see are those head lights. Hmmm, not the purdiest things on earth are they? My take is that they had a given budget for this project and couldn’t get too carried away with redevelopment of the sheet metal. Plus, they wanted to show the latest in lighting technology. Well, that’s the only explanation I could come up with

Once you get past these headlights, I think the exterior is done quite well.

Instead of the brown/blue body cladding, as you can see the ACC2 uses like body coloured panels. Can’t tell from the photos whether these are plastic or metal, but either way I think they look great.

You’ll probably notice the big hole chopped out just below the grille. I suspect this would be for added airflow for the hopped up turbo for the high performance engine expected to be spec’d with this vehicle. 

The fender wells use what looks to be the same material as the existing car, albeit in much smaller quantities. My guess is this is still effective protection, but offering a more subdued impression than the existing Cross Country.

Another feature of note here are those rims. Sort of 80’s Volvo retro aren’t they?! I quite like the look of them but can see they’d be quite a chore to clean. I’ll keep my present XC rims thanks!

Nearby we also notice a set of front brake vents. Have I mentioned yet that this car, if produced would house somewhere in the neighbourhood of 300 HP? Quoted from the official VCNA article:

“Under the hood of the Volvo ACC2, there is a potent version of the Volvo five-cylinder, 2435 cc engine, producing 300 bhp and no less than 400 Nm of torque, mated to a six-speed, compact, four-shaft semi-automatic gearbox developed” 

Taking a look further down the car, we find a new set of rear view mirrors. Though I quite like the over size ones on the existing Cross Country, I think these fit the new car’s profile quite nicely.

Back End
First thing that jumped out at me are the two large exhaust ports hanging through the back bumper. Not too sure what the center hole is for, my guess is it’s just a styling feature, but would be a great place to install a hitch were it aligned properly!

Somewhat of a subtle change in on the rear quarter panel windows. They reduced the amount of glass area by simply enlarging the silver inserts that rest below and to the front of the windows. Guess this is again in an effort to streamline the look of the car.

They’ve also developed a new rear wing on this car and with its squared off edges, complements the car exceptionally well . I’d be very interested in purchasing this wing for my 2001 Cross Country!

Other subtle changes on the back end include smoked tail lights, two tone rear hatch, and again, the colour matched body cladding.

Interior
I think Volvo planned on using this car to showcase possible future developments with interior technology. The exterior could be produced and marketed in its present state (as long as they changed those head lights=) ) but the interior is pretty much out of this world!

That said, it’ll take me another week to outline all the details present on the new interior. I’ll just point out a few of the more interesting ones here:

One of the most unique features is the seating. Pretty cool usage of saddlebag leather on the seating surfaces, tempered by a thin profile on the backs. Only question I have is how are they going to fit the SIPS into such a thin seat? Perhaps I’m just seeing it wrong. 😮

Other notables here include 4 bucket seating, with 4 point belts. Notice the first aid kit tucked into the driver’s door.

Wondering what’s inside the center console? Take a look at the high resolution close ups:

Dash details include a brushed aluminum backboard, a pretty cool looking turn signal stick, aluminum steering wheel accents and a translucent horn cover.

As mentioned, I could probably go on forever with pointing out all the little details that make this such an interesting concept.

Thats all for now! Thanks for reading and feel free to email me at[email protected] with your comments, or discuss in the forums.