Auto Channel

Volvo's giving us a little treat in releasing these pictures of the XC60 concept SUV, which they'll be showing in a few weeks at the Detroit show. While strictly dubbed a concept show car, the kid brother to the XC90 is expected to go into production in 2009. How closely it mirrors this shapely showcar is the question.

The exterior styling clearly takes on Ford Europe's latest "kinetic" design language, following along the lines (so to speak) of the Ford Iosis concepts, among others. And those lines mark a radical departure from the comparatively conservative styling production Volvos employ, and what was previously expected to continue with the XC60 as well. To compete with the increasingly crowded premium compact SUV segment, that could be just what Volvo needs to cut ahead of the pack. The interior, meanwhile, is very i, Robot ...tres slick, but don't expect much to carry over to production aside from the modern trademark Volvo floating console-dash panel.

Not much is known about the mechanicals on this concept, but we do know it's based on the platform of the Land Rover LR2 (a.k.a. Freelander 2, as opposed to the LR3/Discovery).



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