by David Finlay (21 Feb 05)

How like Volvo to do this. While other manufacturers concentrate on showing current, future and pie-in-the-sky models at international motor shows, Volvo - which of course does all these things itself - is devoting some of its efforts at Geneva this year to displaying some of its past concept cars. In the Swedish tradition, safety figures highly on the list of priorities.

The VESC (Volvo Experimental Safety Car - pictured above), for example, was fitted with front and rear airbags, ABS, a reverse warning system, side impact protection and an integral rollcage. Much of this is standard practice in 2005, but the VESC was unveiled at Geneva way back in 1972. Look at almost any car built in volume 33 years ago and you'll see just how radical this concept must have seemed at the time.

Keen Volvo-spotters will notice similarities between the VESC and the production 240, which came on the market a little later and had some of the same features. What is also evident is the difficulty manufacturers had at that time of combining safety with good looks - it was some time before impact protection could be achieved without the use of monstrous front and rear bumpers.

This had become less of a problem by 1992, when Volvo first displayed the ECC (Environmental Concept Car - pictured above). Developed at the Volvo Monitoring and Concept Centre in California, the ECC gave a clear indication of how future Volvos would look; it bears a close resemblance to the S80, which was launched six years later, and the front-end treatment is still being echoed in Volvo's most recently-introduced models, the S40 and V50.

In the early 1990s, safety was still important to Volvo, but the key issue of the time was environmental impact. The ECC used a gas/electric hybrid power system many years before this was even within hailing distance of production reality, and was built as far as possible using materials which did not cause environmental problems during production and could be easily recycled.

The SCC (Safety Concept Car - pictured above) is still very relevant today - not surprisingly, since it first appeared as recently as 2001. Its A-pillars are described by Volvo as "see-through" (they actually have a lattice-like construction allowing the fitment of several small, triangular windows, which would probably cost a fortune) and the B-pillars curve inwards to promote rear visibility.

A far more complex system on the SCC scans the driver's eye and automatically adjusts the position of the centre console, steering wheel, seat, gearlever and pedals for maximum visibility and driver control. Volvo says that many of the SCC's features are, if not already in production, at least likely to be in the near future, but this one might take some time to reach the market.

Finally, Volvo is also showing the 3CC (pictured above). This is very recent history - in fact, the 3CC made its first appearance at Detroit in January, and the Geneva Show will be the scene of its European debut. As previously mentioned, this concept includes the Ride Down feature, in which the seats, steering wheel and fascia actually move forward slightly in the event of a front-end impact. The idea is to allow occupants' bodies to slow down more gently than they would in a normal car, increasing the effective crumple zone.

Some features of the 3CC, like the two-plus-one seating arrangement, are unlikely to make it into production, but as we mentioned at the time of the Detroit Show this car looks as if it will inspire a new small Volvo.

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