Volvo reveals the Concept Estate

Volvo has released the images of the Concept estate, the third concept study in its trilogy. The concept was previewed last week when the Swedish raincoat maker, Stutterheim, uploaded few images of the car on its website. The Concept Estate is the shooting brake version of the 2013 Concept Coupe which was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year.

The Concept Estate features a very futuristic design with an elongated body and an aggressive stance. The design cues show the similarity between this car and the equally stunning Concept Coupe and Concept XC Coupe (unveiled at Detroit Motor Show). The front of the concept features a floating grille and a pair of sharp-looking headlights coupled with T-shaped LED daytime running lights. Based on the Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), the concept houses a new member of the Drive-E engine under its hood.

Inside, the car prominently features a tablet-like touch screen display, which takes care of most controls. Speaking about the interiors, Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President Design, Volvo Car Group, said, "We have created a digital environment that is fully integrated in the car. The basic idea is to organise controls and information in a perfectly intuitive way, making the drive more enjoyable, efficient and safe." The interiors also feature high-end materials like naturally tanned saddle leather, inlays made from naturally-aged waxed wood along with machined copper inserts.

Painted in dark brown pear colour, the concept carries Volvo’s new design language which was also seen in the previous two concept cars. Volvo’s strategy of showcasing the design language in three different segments points to its plans to implement the philosophy across its model lineup. Though the estates never captured the fantasy of the Indian customer, it will be really interesting to see an SUV carry the styling cues from these concept cars. Volvo says that the 2015 XC90, to be unveiled in second-half of 2014, will be the first production model to feature this philosophy though it is difficult to estimate when this SUV will hit our shores. We can expect more details of the Concept Estate to be revealed once it is unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, next month.