Volvo ES wagon completes new concept car trio (2014)

By Ollie Kew and Damion Smy

First Official Pictures

24 February 2014 10:00

This is our first look at the new Volvo estate car concept that’ll be shown at the 2014 Geneva motor show. Called the Volvo ES Concept, it’s the third and final design study from Volvo’s new chief designer Thomas Ingenlath, who’s been pinched from Volvo rival VW to pen a sharp and sexy new range of Swedish metal to take on the dominant Germans.

We’ve seen Ingenlath’s idea of a BMW 4-series-sized coupe, and an XC90-previewing SUV. Now it’s the turn of the iconic Volvo station wagon to be brought bang up to date.

These teaser shots make it easy to predict the look of the new Volvo ES concept. The wafer-thin wraparound rear lights are a straight copy of those on the Concept Coupe, as is that stout shoudlerline.

Up front, we’re expecting the concave grille and split-level headlights from the Concept Coupe and XC Concept, which preview Volvo’s sterner new ‘family face’.

Note the lack of a rear-door shutline in these teaser shots – this is a ‘shooting brake’ design. Ingenlath used this three-door tactic before on the XC Concept, accentuating the rakishness of the profile. Expect the eventual production cars to get five doors instead.

Both of Ingenlath’s Volvo designs have been well-received – will this estate make it a hat trick? Find out by staying tuned to CAR’s Geneva motor show coverage.

Volvo’s new design boss is determined to not see Volvo fall into what he sees as the ‘over-designed’ trap that’s prevalent in other marques. ‘There’s this incredible race to put as many surface entertainment elements into the sheetmetal as possible, he tells CAR. ‘We have resisted this temptation. Of course we still have precise, sharp lines but in a considered, almost classic way.’

Or, to put it another way, Ingenlath describes his trademark, bold lines as ‘a classic way of describing the highlights of the car – just like the crease in your trousers’. The Volvo ES Concept will be shown at the Geneva motor show in early March 2014.

By Ollie Kew and Damion Smy