Volvo's XC Coupe Picks up Some Design Awards

2014 Volvo XC Coupe Concept. All images courtesy Volvo.

Last year, Swedish automaker Volvo treated everyone to a beautifully-designed concept car that was simply called the Volvo Concept Coupe. The company revealed some teaser images anonymously online, without any of the Volvo badges showing, causing a huge stir as people guessed it was a concept from one of the highly revered brands in the industry. Of course everyone was shocked when they found out the breathtakingly beautiful car was a product of Volvo, a company known for its boxy and quite frankly ugly designs.

Volvo is back again with a show-stopper, the XC Coupe Concept, which is a two-door SUV. Both concept vehicles are members of a three-part act Volvo is putting on display to show what the future of the company's design will be. If the concepts are any indication of what new Volvos will look like, be prepared to rethink your preconceptions about the brand.

Not surprisingly, the Volvo XC Coupe Concept picked up a couple of design awards as part of the EyeON Design Awards, which are attached to North American International Auto Show. The awards were for "Best Concept Car" and "Best Use of Color, Graphics and Materials."

Even more exciting, the 2015 Volvo XC90 is supposed to borrow heavily from the design of the XC Coupe. Interestingly enough, now that Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover have been able to recover from Ford ownership, all three brands have started releasing some incredibly compelling vehicles. Is it a coincidence?

I doubt it.

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Paul Walker's Death was About Unsafe Speed

I've been genuinely waiting to pass any sort of judgement about the crash that claimed Paul Walker and his associate, a trained race car driver. With the recent report that the Porsche Carrera GT they were in was traveling over 100 mph before crashing, I think it's safe to say that unsafe speed was definitely a factor in the accident.


From the details, the very few details, that have been released nobody can say for sure why the car was traveling so fast. Of course this hasn't stopped the armchair admirals of the Internet from declaring that the whole incident was a street race scenario gone wrong. For all we know, the driver suffered a medical episode that caused him to push on the accelerator and rendered him unable to steer. of course it is possible the driver was racing someone else, although there are few road cars that can stand up to the sheer might of the supercar.

At 100 mph plus, there are few cars that will hold up with a frontal impact with a street pole. Don't believe me? Watch the small offset frontal crash tests done by IIHS. The test simulates such a crash at 40 mph, and has become notoriously difficult for automakers to engineer vehicles that can pass the test with flying colors. That's less than half the speed the Carrera GT was traveling, which explains why the car was torn apart, entrapping the men and starting a fire.

I'm sure as the forensic details of the crash come out, we will find out more about exactly why the car was traveling so fast. Anyone who has driven a high-powered, rear-wheel drive car knows that they can be hard to control. The Porsche Carrera GT can be accurately described as "unhinged" like the Viper. It's a car that commands your full attention and respect, otherwise it will kill you.

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