Invited to join Volvo at last week’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, our initial response was to be expected… “Volvo? Festival of Speed”, but we’re open to new ideas here at We Heart Towers, so listened to what they had to say. OK, so this wasn’t a radical about-face for one of the ‘safest’ brands the car market has ever known, of course it wasn’t, but listen up; the Swedes have something interesting to say.
Turns out that the Festival of Speed is also a hefty showcase for pretty much everyone/thing remotely related to four wheels, at least it was on Thursday when we arrived to “Glorious Goodwood” in some remarkably glorious sunshine (the track we’d be test driving Volvo’s latest release on would play host to real-life racing drivers the following day). Volvo’s release was not about speed, but about luxury, and sustainable luxury at that; and this, to us, was just as intriguing as testosterone heavy blokes leering at other testosterone blokes driving fast. We were listening.
Volvo’s typically Scandinavian stand
Photograph © We Heart
Out on Goodwood’s famous circuit
Photograph © We Heart
“Luxury goes far beyond the physical product you can see. It is about the entire experience of a product”, states the manufacturer’s Director of Brand & Insights, Dean Shaw. “Innovation, cutting-edge technology and sustainability are increasingly important components of a contemporary notion of luxury” he continues; whilst the press release references Coco Chanel, “Luxury is the opposite of vulgarity” – and that’s an interesting statement, especially given the gas-guzzling mega-beasts that are surrounding us at the festival. Bentleys, Rollers, Range Rovers… all literally screaming “LUXURY” at unsuspecting passersby. But I wonder how many of them could make London to Geneva on one tank of diesel? Yes, ONE TANK!
Volvo’s new vision of luxury, with its 600+ mile range, is the V60 Plug-in Diesel Hybrid – and we give it the once over, on the track, and up the famous Goodwood Hill (we’re reliably informed it’s famous, very famous by all accounts). Luxury it is, not in over-exuberant abundance, but in typically refined Scandinavian elegance. It’s packed with all manner of gadgetry that I’m sure will please those that enjoy that type of thing, but the technology that impresses me is its hybrid engine… some 30 miles range in “pure” mode (100% battery usage, zero tailgate carbon dioxide emissions) could see some drivers exist purely on a nightly charge of 4.5 hours, whilst a quick switch of a button turns the car into somewhat of turbocharged monster; pulling this fairly hefty chap from 0-60 in 6.2 seconds.
Back at Volvo’s typically Scandinavian ‘lodge’, there’s videos running their ‘Switch to Pure‘ mantra, and a menu of flavoured water (chilli surprisingly good)… they’re going at this sustainability thing, all guns a-blazing, and that’s got to be a good thing. “Luxury brands can no longer get away with the sit-on-the-fence, let’s-react-when-we-have-to attitude” says Martin Raymond of trend-forecasting consultancy The Future Laboratory, and the ‘true’ luxury brands could do a lot worse than look to this a template for brand-responsibility.
V60 Plug-in Diesel Hybrid on charge
Photograph © We Heart
