Volvo C30 - greenest in its class

It took 14 months for Volvo Cars to be best in class for fuel-efficiency. Acompletely new way of making eco-cars came along with the creation of the Volvo C30 1.6D DRIVe.

Volvo Special Vehicles decided in 2007 to come up with a competi¬tive candidate for the hot environmental debate, the Volvo C30 1,6D DRIVe. Together with Semcon they succeeded in realiz¬ing the ambition faster than anyone had dared to believe.
“We developed it in 14 months, including all the test runs. That’s an extremely short period of time,” says Lennart Stegland, CEO of Volvo Special Vehicles.
Volvo C30 1.6D DRIVe is an extremely fuel-efficient car and with diesel con¬sumption of 0.44 litres per 10 kilometers and CO2 emissions of 115 grams per kilometer it outclasses the competition in the same segment – it also has considerably improved road-holding properties compared to the original version.
Through cross-functional, theoretical stud¬ies the team went through every part of the car including its parameters and the aim was set in stone: CO2 emissions cut from the exist¬ing 129 grams per kilometer to 119, which is below the Swedish “eco-car limit” of 120 grams per kilometer.
“There would be no compromise. If we’d ended up at 120 we would have failed,” says Mikael Skogsberg, technical project man¬ager at Semcon.
Wind tunnel tests began early on because we realized that aerody¬namics were the most time-consuming part of the project. In the next phase work concentrated on four areas: aerodynamics, chassis, driveline and servo steering. The theoretical calculations had shown exactly where the major fuel savings could be made.
On the “inside” the engine was optimized with the help of new software, unique to the DRIVe concept. The gearbox was given a new ratio for third, fourth and fifth gears and given a new low friction oil. The steering system was improved and a new gear indicator was added to the information display on the instrument panel.
On the “outside” all focus was on reducing the car’s wind resistance. A new, lower chassis and a partially covered grille gave the nose considerably improved aerodynamic properties. The specially designed low friction tyres from Michelin and aerodynamic aluminium Libra wheels gave the C30 its final look. They were designed with the aim of achieving the best pos¬sible balance between safety and fuel-efficiency.
“The focus all the time has been on CO2 emissions. But we never wanted to compromise with the car’s other road-holding qualities. The aim was to deliver something that was genu¬inely better in all areas,” says Lennart Stegland.