New Volvo going down hill fast

Having done away with its boxey lumbering image some years ago, Volvo has shown just how sleek its design team can get by winning the annual Extreme Gravity Competition.

The event pits some of the world's biggest car manufacturers against each other to see who can go the fastest using only gravity for propulsion.

The one-off new Volvo beat off competition from new Audi, Chrysler and Bentley models to take the top spot.

"Achieving top speed in a vehicle without an engine is a remarkable integration of design and engineering," explained Volvo's vice president Lars Erik Lundin to Autoexpress.



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The overgrown go-cart was designed at Volvo's Monitoring and Concept Centre in California and hit a winning speed of 54mph.

It is a busy time for Volvo's developers who have also recently been looking into using sustainable resources such as hemp, jute, rapeseed and soya for manufacturing new Volvo parts.

"We are taking key steps today towards Volvo cars with 'hard' components such as dashboards and ceilings made of flax and cellulose rather than petroleum-based polymers, and enjoying comfortable seats using natural fibre and soya-based foam fillings," explained Katarina Sundqvist of Volvo.

Volvo is confident that this research will soon lead to the firm producing some of the greenest new cars on the market.

14th October 2005