Sculpting Practicality with Volvo XC90 | Verve Magazine
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Luxury & Brands
February 20, 2015

Sculpting Practicality with Volvo XC90

Text by Neha Gupta

With the new XC90, Volvo has proved that technology needn’t just serve mechanically, but can also oblige with warmth and beauty

There is something about aesthetics and design that is embedded in the core of every Swedish company. Even Volvo cars, the country’s pride, that hold the biggest market share here, ride high on their inspired Scandinavian design, handcrafted materials and attention to detail. From always being known as a brand that is in tandem with advancing technology, Volvo’s recently unveiled all-new XC90 now clubs this with functional beauty.

The hand-stitched, bespoke soft leather seats embrace you with warmth and cutting-edge technology. Their ergonomic shape that resembles a human spine is equipped with massage modes. And it is just as easy to shift their shape to adjust with yours with their adjustable side bolsters, seat cushion extension, multi-directional lumbar support and vertical adjustment of headrests.

Sitting diagonally across the driver’s seat is a never-before seen tablet-touch screen control console. Diamond-cut buttons for the start/stop and volume keys are the only switches the fingers need to brush over for entertainment – and of course, thumb controls on the steering wheel for the driver’s convenience. Safety being Volvo’s chief concern, an option for the head-up display to pop directly in front of the motorist ensures that their eyes never need to leave the road, as does the inbuilt speech to command feature. It is programmed such that the robots are trained to interpret colloquial, conversational tongues.

Cradling such ingenuity is the dashboard, which is handcrafted from rare flame birch wood sourced from forests of Russia and Northern Sweden. They are sliced into veneers, stained and treated by hand, moulded, hand-sanded and dyed before settling into an uber-cool herringbone design. Even the gear is moulded from smooth crystal glass for a suave finish.

And it gets better. The all-new Volvo XC90’s carbon filters of its climate control system are on a continuous loop. All incoming air is immediately purified, as is the circulated air when the windows are up. Who says you need to inhale dust when on the road.

Indeed, Volvo doesn’t just design cars – it recreates Swedish art with imagination, resourcefulness and skill.

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