Volvo XC90’s the ‘Best of the Best’

Volvo Cars has been awarded one of the world’s premier product design awards for its ground-breaking XC90 luxury SUV.

The Best of the Best award, based on the results of a 38-strong international jury of experts, was presented to Volvo for the XC90’s pioneering design and high level of quality. The car was chosen from almost 5 000 participating product designs across 31 product categories in the much coveted Red Dot awards.

“The new XC90 is the vanguard of Volvo’s new design direction. In our work on this car, we have been very much aware of Volvo’s heritage, the value of authenticity and Scandinavian design, but we have also taken some bold and progressive steps forward, aiming for a design style and execution level that pushes our boundaries. I am very proud that our new flagship has won the prestigious Red Dot: Best of the Best award,” said Thomas Ingenlath, senior vice president of design at Volvo Cars.

The XC90 represents a new beginning for Volvo in terms of design philosophy and has been credited with taking the luxury SUV to a new level. Characterised by precision design and attention to detail, the XC90 paves the way for future Volvo car designs and elements. These include the new face of Volvo with a new Volvo logo and a floating grille, and the celebrated T-shaped ‘Thor’s Hammer’ daytime running lights.

The Volvo XC90 design was made possible thanks to the new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) which will underpin many of Volvo’s forthcoming models and supports the dynamic and balanced proportions of the new Volvo XC90.

Carrying the precision and pioneering exterior design inside the car, head of Volvo Design, Thomas Ingenlath and his team have created a serene and relaxing interior combining the finest natural materials such a leather, wood and crystal with a calming and luxurious take on Scandinavian design. This is also reflected in the way that Volvo approached the total redesign of the information displays and interaction in the car, reducing complexity and creating a uniquely intuitive interface.

“It is particularly challenging to develop a new design language which refers to well-known brand values while presenting a modern, desirable interpretation. The all-new Volvo XC90 symbolises the cornerstone of a complete new generation of cars where our progressive design combines innovative technology with Scandinavian design virtues and stands for a new individual approach in the premium segment.”

“For 60 years, the most respected design experts come to Essen in order to reward the best designs. This year we had just under 5 000 products – a record number of entries – and extreme workload for our judges who evaluate each product. The high number of entries illustrate the respect and value of these awards. The winners of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2015 have delivered an extremely high level of performance and have therefore been recognised by the largest design competition in the world,” said Professor Dr Peter Zec, initiator and CEO of Red Dot Awards.

The all new Volvo XC90 AWD D5 First Edition was priced at N$1 050 000.They were sold online only and 18 of these were sold in SA. The local launch of the all-new Volvo XC90 will take place in July this year and will go on sale in August with prices expected to start at just under N$ 800 000.00

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