Geneva Preview: Future? Shape of Volvo

Imagine the shape of a Volvo, the commercial asks. Curvy and swoopy is what comes to mind even if you are supposed to think boxy as you remember the last Volvo you saw. When was the last time you even saw a Volvo? Volvo has been making pretty curvy cars for a generation now even if its legend has been built on boxier shapes. The updated S60 and XC60 are curvier still as the commercial shows, and the V60 is pretty far away from the traditional Volvo wagon shape as you can get. It can masquerade as any other brand easily. Yet, just as the public finally imagines a curvy Volvo and forgets all about straight edge Volvos for good, the company is unveiling concept after concept that brings back edges. The latest estate concept from Volvo looks closer to what Volvos did last decade and it would not be a stretch to say that it certainly fits better in my dream of how a Volvo should look. It's evident that Volvo realizes that perhaps it went too far from its roots in its most recent cars and is now looking for a sharper design more coherent with its past image. And it's not a bad thing at all as the last few concepts have been interesting.  Perhaps the long overdue XC90 will be more chiseled than curvy regardless of what the latest commercial sells us.