Today, at the Shanghai Auto Show, Volvo Cars visualises a masterpiece of Scandinavian design, inspired by Chinese philosophy. Concept Universe is Volvo’s most luxurious creation ever, and the brand’s answer to the question: “What is a beautiful car?” With this sculptural and luminary design study, Volvo wants to test a possible new design direction for the brand since it was acquired by Geely.
“When we set out to create this concept, one of the first things I told the designers was not to draw cars for a week. With a pencil, one automatically draws hard lines, and that’s not what we wanted here. Instead I asked them to design sculptures. That way, we brought fluidity and a sculptural gracefulness to the Concept Universe. We reduced the number of lines, and took away all visual noise, to make it as simple and elegant as possible,” says Jonathan Disley, Strategic Design Manager Advanced, at Volvo Cars.
“Without the edges, all lines are infinite, marking distinctive inspiration from Scandinavian furniture design as well as Chinese writing. The Concept Universe is entirely built by hand and took a strenuous 8000 hours to finish.”
With Volvo’s new tie to China in mind, the design director brought a more philosophical dimension to the design, as he wished for a car “with the depth of the universe and just as welcoming as the sun rising over a calm ocean.” This extraordinary brief brought about unexpected and inspiring discussions among the designers, and the director got what he wished for. The depth of the grill, with its layered design, luminary effects and planetary feel, resembles the universe, while an illumination bar between the tail lights reflect the colour spectra of the sun and the moon rising. Made of rubber compounds, the frosted tail lights accentuate a glowing, almost burning red light. The lights are with its silicone-like attributes also resistant to bumps and scratches.
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