Like vodka, this Swede comes to party. Playful. Young. Emotional. Not adjectives normally associated with a Volvo. Safe? Conservative? Now those fit the bill. After all, for the past 80 years Volvo has fortified an iron standing of producing cars that are as secure as bank vaults. After eight decades of playing it safe, though, Volvo is ready to let loose.



Say hello to the all-new C30 hatchback, the wild child of the Volvo family. Due out next summer, the C30 is a far cry from the typical Volvo. According to chief designer Simon Lamarre, "The C30 isn't for people with kids. It's a different kind of a Volvo for a different kind of customer." In other words, the C30 isn't meant to be an A-to-B appliance for the Smiths or Joneses, but rather a Gen-Y plaything for Junior.



In order to attract young, fickle customers, Volvo has injected the C30 with shots of style and speed. While its front end closely resembles those of the S40 and V50 with which it shares Ford's C1 platform, its sloping rear end looks avant-garde, bearing a shape unique to modern Volvos.


Spare a little of time at their site. It's just excellent! In the "Cinema" section, you can actually download those ads to your Ipod, PSP, and your mobile phone. Wow! With their "What do you think?" line, Volvo rejoins this club of announcers who finally opened up their eyes on the whole word-of-mouth marketing craze these days, and put some more power in the hands the consumer. So to speak. And it's working! Proof is, I'm talking about it.


Besides, they has also launched an oddly creative mini-site that allows you to spec up your own C30 at the "Unbox Your C30" section, with exterior paint, interior colors and several wheels designs. It's a pretty slick interface, even if it has a few bugs, but overall the web geeks over at Volvo have done an stellar job.