Nearly every new car on sale comes equipped with an onboard thermometer.

The Vauxhall Cavalier was one of the first cars I can remember to have one. How we all were awed by it.

Now, I can’t name a car that lacks one. Good job: I’d be lost without it. Serving my geeky side so very well, I look at it almost as much as I glance at the trip computer (a lot, then, for those who know me).

Which has given me an idea.

Namely, to embrace the in-car temperature gauge, plus the power of Twitter, to give the nation a new real time weather service.

It’s simple.

1. Take a picture of your in-car thermometer
2. Compose a tweet of this image
3. Include two hashtags: #cartemp, and your #<location>

Bingo: one real-time state of the nation’s temperature. Example: ‘Cold in the #Midlands today. <image> #cartemp. ‘. Simples.

It’s potentially even neater if you include weather meta data. If it’s -2deg C and the snow’s just starting, tweet that. In the summer, if it’s 30deg C but raining, tweet it. Weather geeks everywhere will revel in such real-time data.

I’ll be doing it from now on, usually early doors. Fancy starting a movement? Then start tweeting #cartemp and let’s get on the Met Office’s weather radar.

+ Land Rover app out snow?

+ My hit car colour is Pantone’s colour of 2012

+ 6Music and the RAC Rally: Propaganda and Duel

Orange cars have been (back) in for some time now and are slowly moving from motor show stands to supermarket car parks.

I dubbed it my Hit Car Colour of the Year back in May. This was a result of SO many new cars and motor show stars appearing in varying shades of orange.

Now, thanks to Pantone voting an orange hue its Colour of the Year 2012, its scope may soon stretch to the catwalk and the make-up counter, too.

In the car world, Bentley started the trend with the latest Continental GT back in November 2010. Today, VW Group brand partner is carrying it onto the road with orange Q3 and, from early next year, A1 Sportback.

(As is increasingly the case, Audi is launching the five-door A1 with a bespoke colour – Samoa Orange – ensuring it will probably be the marketing ‘brochure colour’ at the launch event. Expect to see a lot of it in early 2012)

Now, orange is set to gain official recognition as a cool colour, courtesy of the Pantone Matching System propriety colour space. Each year, it announces its Colour of the Year, one researched, debated and chosen to ‘connect with the zeitgeist’. And this year’s colour has been revealed.

Colour of the Year 2012

The 2012 Colour of the Year is Pantone 17-1463 Tangerine Tango. Yes, orange.

Why? Because it’s a vivacious, enticing hue, says Pantone: ‘The 2011 Color of the Year, PANTONE 18-2120 Honeysuckle, encouraged us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor. Tangerine Tango, a spirited reddish orange, continues to provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward.’

As Pantone itself says, orange has grown in popularity and gained acceptance amongst both designers and consumers. Hence, receiving official validation from the colourspace masters for 2012.

What next for Tangarine Tango, then? Fashion, reckons Pantone: look out for it in the 2012 collections of Tommy Hilfiger, Nanette Lepore, Cynthia Steffe by Shaun Kearney, Elie Tahari and Adrienne Vittandini, it says.

Cosmetics, too: it’s apparently particularly good for eyeshadow, as it’s ‘a complementary opposite that flatters blue or green eyes. When paired with brown eyes, it brings out an amber cast.’

I’m curious to see what happens now, and will be looking to people who know much more about this stuff than I (chiefly, my girlfriend) to tell me how orange is making its way into High Fashion.

In the meantime… geeks (like me), do you want to recreate Tangerine Tango yourself? Try the CMYK code: 0/82/80/0. The official Pantone code is 17-1463. Hexadecimal? #FA500A will do it for you.

So… what IS the Pantone Colour of the Year?

A very thoughtful process, says Pantone. It scours the world for influences, from the entertainment industry, art collections, new artists, travel destinations ‘and other socio-economic conditions’. Not only that, continues Pantone, but influences also come from technology, including new textures and effects that can affect colour.

Influences even, get this, stretch to ‘upcoming sports events that capture worldwide attention’.

The Colour of the Year influences product development and purchasing decisions across multiple industries, continues Pantone: ‘fashion, home and industrial design… (even) product packaging and graphic design’. Who knew.

Past winners? Here’s a list, with the Pantone codes, colour-coded in hexadecimal:

• PANTONE 18-2120 Honeysuckle (2011)

• PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise (2010)

• PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa (2009)

• PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris (2008)

• PANTONE 19-1557 Chili Pepper (2007)

• PANTONE 13-1106 Sand Dollar (2006)

• PANTONE 15-5217 Blue Turquoise (2005)

• PANTONE 17-1456 Tigerlily (2004)

• PANTONE 14-4811 Aqua Sky (2003)

• PANTONE 19-1664 True Red (2002)

• PANTONE 17-2031 Fuchsia Rose (2001)

• PANTONE 15-4020 Cerulean (2000)

 + My hit car colour of 2011

+ My hit car colour of 2010

+ From the Porsche archives: Carmine Red and the Panamera GTS

God is in the details and creating those details keeps thousands in the automotive industry gamefully occupied across the globe. 

Spending time with a car reveals more and more of them. Running a long-term test car gives you the best opportunity of all to spot and savour them.

My current long-termer is an Audi A6 Avant. Here, thus, is a running photolog of these details.

Up close and personal with an Audi A6 Avant? You’ve got it…

Aircraft-style centre console lighting at night, complete with red downlighters.

Remember the crescent-shaped auxiliary dials on the Porsche 996 and 997? Here they are, in digitised form.

The feature-packed climate control display up front is, as an option, replicated in simplified form in the rear too.

BMW’s involvement with the Olympic games is not a new event: nearly 40 years ago, it was again leading the charge at the Games of the XX Olympiad. 

Leading the charge, literally. Its fleet that time round was a series of orange BMW 1602 Elektro – pure EV cars that BMW had been developing since 1969.

These boasted some decent stats, given how they were pioneering modern-day electric cars. Despite a brace of 12v lead acid batteries, the motor was able to produce 43hp, and the range was more than enough to serve as a decent escort vehicle at the Games.

The orange 1602 Elektro even led the marathon and road walk events during the two-month Olympic Games event, suggesting the real-world range was 26 miles plus a decent safety margin… not bad for something using similar batteries to those in our cars today (check out the image – literally rows of car batteries…). The quoted range was 60km at a constant 50km/h.

Marking the start of BMW’s battery vehicle research programme, several more electric BMWs followed the 1602 Elektro through the years, culminating in the forthcoming launch of the i3 and i8. But it was back at the Olympic Games in 1972 that BMW’s EV aspirations first received global recognition.

How fitting that, 40 years on, the firm is back at the Games with a fleet that again includes electric vehicles: 200 MINI E and BMW 1 Series ActiveE will help make up the 4500-car fleet, which meets the sub-120g/km overall CO2 target set by LOCOG with ease.

Indeed, the green BMW and MINI fleet has seen BMW become a Tier One ‘Sustainability Partner’ for the 2012 London Olympics, no doubt aided, as board member Ian Robertson pointed out, by being voted Dow Jones’ most sustainable car company for five years in a row.

It says something for progress, though, that the chief reason for this big Olympic sustainability win is not the presence of EVs, but the fact 1842 320d EfficientDynamics will be used on the fleet. Yes, the 1602 Elektro showwd the world BMW could do zero emissions back in the 70s but, four decades on, it’s the low emissions of that car’s generational successor, the 3 Series, that gives BMW the real world win.

Seems even now, the world is not quite ready for electric cars. At least the Olympic effort to change minds is now underway…

London 2012 Olympics and BMW: the fleet

• 200 Electric Vehicles (MINI E and 1 Series ActiveE)
• 1842 320d EfficientDynamics (68.9mpg)
• 679 520d EfficientDynamics (62.8mpg)
• 20 5 Series ActiveHybrid (44.1mpg)
• 3 730Ld SE (41.5mpg)
• 6 MINI Cooper D Countryman (64.2mpg)
• 308 318d and 520d Touring EDs (62.8mpg/57.6mpg)
• 23 X3 and X5
• 30 on- andoOff-road motorcycles
• 400 BMW bicycles
• 971 Vans, MPVs and Minibuses

Designing a BMW 3 Series is one of the hardest tasks in the motor industry.

12.5 million have been sold to date and it is the world’s best selling premium-make car. It is also the best selling BMW and thus, says BMW Group design director Adrian van Hooydonk, the BMW people see on the road more than any other.

‘It has to look like a BMW, it has to say BMW to people. And any new design themes we want to introduce have to be seen on this model.’

This is why the F30 BMW 3 Series is no great break from tradition. To do anything other than evolve the classic long-wheelbase, short front overhang proportions would be wrong. That’s not to say the new one simply repackages the looks of the old, though. To explain what makes the new 3 Series special, Hooydonk talked through the new car…

Front

The precursor to a 3 Series, the 1968 BMW 2002, had single headlights and tall kidney grilles. This was where the facial graphic of the 3 Series was born. Come the 1983 E30 3 Series, twin headlights were fitted, cut off by the bonnet at the top to concentrate the look. The new 3 Series carries this theme on yet further.

The double headlamp look is retained, this time with the cylinders picked out by vivid white daytime LEDs. The bonnet cutoff is this time depicted by a ‘razor’ bar on top of the light. The grille is also wider and attached to the grille for the first time, a styling trick that makes the whole front look lower and wider. Debuting here, the look is coming to other BMWs too.

Side

This must express dynamic movement. ‘Design is a promise’ says Hooydonk. Two feature lines do this, moving upwards toward the rear to suggest forward motion. ‘The 3 Series is the sprinter of the family, and the design hints at a quick getaway.’

Hooydonk compares the angle of this feature line to that of bigger BMWs. On the 7 Series it is horizontal, running the entire length of the car unbroken. ‘This expresses presence and luxury.’ On the 5 Series, it is more angled, to help give it a strong autobahn-ready look. ‘The 5 Series has to express speed.’

Rear

The rear is the most familiar aspect to current 3 Series owners. Here, BMW has looked to enhance the car’s solidity by visual tricks that make the rear look wider even than its additional dimensions portray. Hooydonk’s goal was to make it look more cohesive than the current car, courtesy of subtle improvements to the shape of the now more vertical bootlid and better-configured bumper shape.

Details like the new L-shaped lights are a typical BMW trademark: here, they have a more diagonal upper edge to suggest sportiness ‘and there are two light bars within them at night: the 5 and 7 have three’.

Interior

‘The interior of a 3 Series has to develop round the driver, and we have enhanced this cockpit feel with the new car.’ Hooydonk says it has a strong asymmetry in its design, that extends from the upper dashboard itself right through the centre console and between the front seats. ‘It is more asymmetrical than any other BMW car.’

Premium details feature heavily. It has the black panel instruments of the 5 Series, plus a super-wide iDrive screen taken straight from the 7 Series. ‘It is the first time in this class a car has had such a large screen.’ The standalone design mimics modern flatscreen TVs, while a further nod to technology comes in additional stowage space inside. Smartphones, digital cameras, music players: ‘We all have many things we want to dump in our cars’.

Summary

Designing a BMW 3 Series is a heady task. It is such an icon, the stylists simply can’t get it wrong. While the F30 is familiar, it’s also more modern and stand-out in the key area that has long defined the 3 Series, the front end. Like it or loathe it, you’d better get used to it, as you’ll be seeing a lot of them on the road once the car is launched on 11 February 2012.

But do you like or loathe it? Do you agree with Hooydonk’s interpretation of what a 3 Series should be and how it should look? Share your thoughts on the look of the new F30 BMW 3 Series…

+ BMW ECO PRO

+ BMW 1 Series Power Meters

+ Customer feedback steers BMW engineers

Peugeot has launched the world’s first diesel-electric hybrid, despite the world telling us it can’t be done.

The costs!, says the world. The technical challenge!, it points out. The woes of running a diesel engine on short-burst cycles!, it chucks in. Petrol is OBVIOUSLY the only way to make a hybrid, went conventional logic. Until Peugeot disagreed with it.

So, how? Well, the PSA Hybrid4 system has been made affordable by locating it on the rear axle rather than the front (thus separeating it from the engine completely), and cleverly using propriety parts when doing so. Parts bin components stretch to 508 rear suspension on the 3008 that launches it, with the entire system designed to be a plug-in module rather than something to be built in.

Basically, Mulhouse builds the modules and ships them to Sochaux, where they’re bolted on during production in a process not unlike fitting rear suspension itself. It’s even done on the existing 3008 production line, so a Hybrid4 can roll down in between a 1.6 HDi 112 and a THP Turbo 165.

Peugeot says it’s so modular can be fitted to any C-sector and D-sector model. 3008 and 508 RXH we’ve seen: regular 508 Hybrid4 is on the way. The 5008 may be a challenge with its seven seats, but as the Hybrid4 gear takes up no extra space in the 3008 (not even the batteries encroach, unlike as in the Toyota Prius/Auris HSD), Peugeot may already be onto it.

Peugeot v Honda

Incidentally, Honda said one of the remarkable achievements of the Jazz Hybrid was the fact interior space remains identical to the regular car. That’s why it could only hit a 104g/km CO2 target, rather than 99g/km.

Well, Honda, here’s a Peugeot hybrid with no less interior space too – that also meets 99g/km and thus gets free road tax over here. OK, it’s a CO2 target-hitting trick pulled with smaller alloys and no standard sat nav (presumably to save weight), but even so: does this mean, Honda, you’ve been outsmarted by Peugeot?

I digress. Peugeot won’t with the latest 308, though. While it could design a diesel-electric hybrid version of the current family hatch, it won’t. That model is too close to the end of its lifecycle, so hybrid will have to wait until the next one. Peugeot did hint at the expected CO2 figure, though: 89g/km from this 2.0-litre HDi 163 setup.

There also won’t be a hybrid 207, despite the technology being entirely scaleable. The benefits would be far too small, said Peugeot, and supermini cars are already very low on CO2 without the need to add expensive hybrid – which, besides, would be a proportionally much higher cost.

Clever drivetrain

One very clever aspect of the technology is the separation of engine and gearbox. Not only does this make it far, far easier to develop and build (no whizzy Toyota CVT gearbox here, for instance – just a regular Peugeot robotised manual whose lurching shifts have been smoothed significantly by giving a burst of electric motor torque during gearshifts – very clever), but it also means different engines can be used.

Here, we have a powerful, highly-tuned 2.0-litre. The integrated starter-alternator it’s fitted to is also available on the 1.6 HDi. Fuel economy potential of a 1.6 Hybrid4 150 (with the electric motor providing the power boost), then? In a mid-range Peugeot  308 hatch that may already duck below 90g/km in 2.0 Hybrid4 200 guise? Potentially mega.

The component that’s most significant of all, and the reason why other makers haven’t yet done diesel hybrid, is Peugeot’s integrated starter-alternator. This has been uprated for its new application, from 3KW to 8KW – to ensure it can supply charge to the battery. In normal hybrids, the trick gearbox takes care of this, diverting power away from the engine to create a generator function.

Peugeot can’t do this as the electric motor isn’t built in. So, instead, the starter turns into a generator meaning that, whenever the driver is on the power, electricity is generated and transmitted, via four beefy electrical cables, from front to rear.

Oh, and the four-wheel drive function doesn’t disappear if the rear batteries are flat, either. The starter-alternator can generate charge to power the rear motor direct, ensuring the four-wheel drive function is always available, rather than being charge-dependent. Truly, truly ingenious.

The elegance and relative simplicity of Peugeot’s remarkable hybrid system is brilliant. Have other makers simply tried to be too clever, which is why they’ve not done a diesel hybrid before? Peugeot has, instead, been logically astute – and, in doing so, brought to market the first mainstream hybrid that actually works on the road as you’d hope.

Believe me, it’s not going to be the only time we see the hybrid concept debuted here by Peugeot…

+ Stop-start or start-stop?

+ BMW ECO PRO

+ From the Porsche archives: Carmine Red and the Panamera GTS

Porsche has launched the most driver-focused Panamera to date with the LA Motor Show debut of the Panamera GTS. 

And, pleasingly, the firm has looked to the past for its name, bringing back the moniker used for the most special 928 built from 1989 to 1994. The 928 GTS was the meatiest of the original front-engined Porsche and, thanks to wider rear arches hiding 9-inch wheels, the best looking too (even though I still admire the purity of the gorgeous 1978 launch model too – and am not the only one…).

The Panamera is arguably the spiritual successor to the 928: while the original didn’t have rear doors, it was still intended to be a luxurious four-seat Porsche. Misguided engineering and the resultant dreadful space inefficiency was the only reason it emerged instead as a 2+2.

Reviving a name from the past isn’t the only blast from history, though. The newest Panamera’s colour has also been taken from the Porsche back catalogue. For the Panamera GTS only is the availability of an all-new hue for the luxury four-door range: Carmine Red.

Now, when I first saw it, for some reason my memory piped up ’944′, and it seems this is partly right. OK, the Carmine Red isn’t actually from the 944 (the one I was thinking of is an amalgam of Maraschino Red and Velvet Red, for the record…), but it HAS been used on Porsches past.

Carmine Red Porsche 928 AND 911

Indeed, it was actually used on the 928 itself, for the 1988 model year. It was also, more significantly, available on the 911, again for a limited period between 1987-1988 (some reckon the number of 911s in this colour doesn’t even reach the hundreds…). Yes, original Carmine Red – L80F – is a very rare colour indeed.

So why has Porsche brought it back? Maybe a mooted reason for its introduction back in the 80s reveals why: on the 911 it was a less vivid, less garish alternative to the commonplace ‘guards red’ 3.2 Carrera of the era, which Porsche believed many people desired.

Colours reflect the times and the financiers that lusted after Porsches had suffered a tumultuous time on Black Monday. Cheeriness was thin on the ground: a jazzy Guards Red car parked outside Lloyds wasn’t really what the red brace crew wanted.

Evidently not all that popular, as it turned out, given its short time on the options list: the Yuppies ensured fortunes revived, briefly, so the brighter hue soon returned. This is why 911 fans actively search it out today: it’s extremely rare.

And why the apostrophes above for Guards Red? Because, according to Tony Corlett, Guards Red wasn’t actually used on the 3.2 Carrera, with ‘India Red’  (027) being Porsche’s preferred name, later changing to Indian Red (80K). Same colour, different names.

(The joy of being a Porsche fan, if you didn’t already know, is delving into details like this…)

Question is, does the Panamera GTS possess the same name but a different colour? It *seems* similar, but is it exactly the same as the 1980s original?

If you’re as insatiably geeky as me and thus interested, you’re in luck. I’m such a devourer of details, I’m going to try and find out…

+ My hit car colour of 2011

+ Xirallic: what is it?

+ August 2011: what is Porsche up to at the moment?

Green cars and eco sub-brands have to be a staple of any right-thinking manufacturer these days. 

If you’re not showing off your eco credentials with a special badge applied to your very greenest, most environmentally-aware models, you are, it seems, a little bit nowhere.

These green sub-brands are a sort of BMW M/Audi RS/Mercedes AMG version of an eco car: the most hardcore, highest-green-performance planet-savers. If you like green cars, these are your poster boys.

Each manufacturer has different standards for its greenest cars, but the principles are generally similar: dictate a CO2 benchmark they must dip beneath, stipulate a range of technolgoies such as stop-start that they must be fitted with, maybe throw in the fact they should be built in an ISO 14001 facility, and bingo: one green sub-brand set of standards.

But boy, they’re confusing. What’s an Econetic and what’s an Ecomotive? Who likes eco2 and who goes for EcoDynamics?

Well, salvation: here is an easy user guide to all the eco brands on the market. Coming up will be an explanation of all the standards each has to adopt.

For now, let’s keep things simple. Want to know what’s the greenest Renault and the most eco Ford? Well, here’s them all… updated as more come to market!

Audi: TDIe

BMW: EfficientDynamics

Citroen: Airdream

Ford: Econetic

Hyundai: Blue Drive

Kia: EcoDynamics

Mercedes-Benz: BlueEfficiency

MINI: Minimalist

Mitsubishi: ClearTec

Nissan: Pure Drive

Renault: eco2

SEAT: Ecomotive

Skoda: Greenline

Toyota: Optimal Drive

Vauxhall: EcoFlex

VW: Bluemotion AND Bluemotion Technology

Volvo: DRIVe

+ Land Rover Defender: the great green potential

+ EV 101: electric car basics

+ How Honda justifies the Jazz Hybrid

Peugeot has achieved sub-130g/km status this year.

That’ll please European legislators, who say European car makers must hit this range-average target – or else…. they’ll pay.

It’s been a gradual but sustained CO2 reduction for Peugeot: in 2001, its range average was 155g/km, falling to 145g/km in 2006. And the main driver of this? Diesel.

Today, Peugeot’s sales split is biased 64.4% diesel, and it commands 8.3% of the European diesel market overall. As diesel is, says Peugeot, 30% more fuel efficient (for similar advantages in CO2 too), it has an inherent sales advantage that is now paying big dividends.

Now, it’s going one further, and making a diesel hybrid. It’s been much-discussed elsewhere how logical this is, but here’s a bald-stat summary: Peugeot’s four-wheel drive crossover hybrid has a better CO2 figure than Honda’s five-door supermini hybrid.

The added logic of the Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4

Why, though, asked a French journalist, is it introducing it in the 3008 range, rather than an all-new car? Because, replied Peugeot, the 3008 has been a bit of a hit.

289,800 have been sold since it was launched in 2009; in 2010, the 129,600 sales total was, apparently, 40% up on objective. Year to date, it’s up another 16%. Even more impressively, the sales are 55% conquest, compared to the normal 35-40% for mainstream makes.

The 3008 will overtake the 308 in Peugeot UK’s sales league this year – a more expensive, more premium model overtaking the lower-range heartland that used to win it so many sales. The hybrid will also take 20% of those sales next year, too. Yes, 20% – for a model that starts at £27k.

So Peugeot is charging premium prices, presumably winning some premium customers, and backing it up with marketing focused on making it appear more premium. Could it actually end up becoming the mainstream-premium maker it wants? The 3008 HYbrid4 will be a telling test.

Even more smartly, although it’s pushing up prices, it won’t be paying any CO2 penalties as a result. The HYbrid4 technology is cleverly modular, so can be applied to any C- or D-sector model. 99g/km Peugeot 508 It’s on the way next year – with the 109g/km Audi Allroad-style Peugeot 508 RXH there to, yup, continue the premium drive.

Peugeot driven by diesel

All thanks to that staple of Peugeot’s range, the diesel engine. Diesel allowed Peugeot to get its average below 130g/km, without hefty investment in high-tech eco gadgetry. Now, it’s allowing the brand to explore new premium opportunities with further-enhanced impressive low CO2 claims.

The diesel-electric hybrid experience is classy, feel-good and, crucially, works with the sophistication expected of a premium brand drivetrain. Now, Peugeot’s going to exploit it, with some classy upper-range models.

Apparently, the 3008 HYbrid4 is generating real interest, and the special launch editions of the Peugeot 508 RXH sold out within three days. People already like diesels, and like the idea of hybrids. Peugeot has combined the two to create a very marketable concept that’s working even in sectors previously out of bounds to the brand.

The power of going green: there’s a clear business case for it too, that Peugeot is already enjoying. Yet more evidence that, right now, green cars really do hold all the cards.

And diesel is, at the moment, key to the whole green car movement.

+ Land Rover Defender: the great green potential

+ SEAT applies the sun green

+ How Honda justifies the Jazz Hybrid

Volvo’s Concept You again showed off the firm’s Scaleable Platform Architecture at the 2011 Frankfurt IAA.

SPA will underpin most of the brand’s future models. Instead of creating unique platforms for each car, Volvo has created a modular system that ensures the same components can be used across all model lines.

Rather like a big LEGO kit, it dramatically cuts the amount of bespoke components for each model and ensures Volvo has the ability to develop new cars almost at will.

Want a bigger car than car X? SPA allows the wheelbase to be stretched, an common electrical systems, driveline, suspension and other parts to be used. Bingo: one car Y is yours.

It’s little short of brilliant and will mean that although initial investment is high, future products will be cheaper and, crucially, faster to develop.

However, while it’s radical, it’s not the first time Volvo has done this. Indeed, we can still buy one of the original Volvo ‘scaleable platform’ cars, in the form of the XC90…

Volvo SPA MkI

Volvo developed its first highly flexible platform architecture when it was also an independent, before Ford ownership. The 1999 Volvo S80 debuted it, and it would appear in many more core Volvos over the years.

The platform was dubbed P2 and was designed to offer both standard and long-wheelbase variants, plus front-wheel and four-wheel drive capability.

The full line-up of P2 cars is impressive:

• 1999-2006 Volvo S80 (P23)

• 2001-2009 Volvo S60 (P24)

• 2001-2007 Volvo V70 (P26E)

• 2002-2007 Volvo XC70 (P26L)

• 2003-date Volvo XC90 (P28)

P2 was clearly well-considered, and ensured an independent company could still offer a range of cars able to take on German premium rivals. Indeed, the ingenuity of it is perhaps what attracted Ford to Volvo in the first place.

Ford was so impressed, it actually used a variation of P2 in its own cars, the D3 platform. It lost some of the higher-cost componentry such as aluminum suspension arms, but still, hundreds of thousands of Ford 500, Ford Taurus and, in newer D4 form, the Ford Flex and Lincoln MKT.

Of course, with Ford ownership came the opportunity for Volvo to tap into readymade platforms. So, for the replacement Volvo S80 and Volvo V70, Ford’s C/D architecture was utilised: the same that also underpins the Land Rover Freelander, Ford Mondeo and Ford S-Max amongst others.

But now, Volvo is independent from a large European-focused maker again. It has the might of Geely behind it, but Geely does not yet make cars able to take on the best of the Europeans and US brands. So, Volvo must start again, with an all-new platform structure.

Hence, SPA. It’s returning to the smart construction it was using before Ford bought it, and is set once again to enjoy the flexibility of a platform architecture designed from the start to be flexible and, well, scaleable.

Other makers are doing it: the Saab Phoenix and Mazda SkyActiv-Chassis use a similar philosophy. But Volvo is closest with a production version, and many a production engineer is watching on with interest.

There’s a lot of clever engineering going on in Volvo right now. SPA is one of the headliners: but how much will legions of S80s, V70s and, indeed, the XC90 that’s still being made in ever-impressive quantities over at Torslanda help the engineers bring SPA to life? More, I suspect, than we perhaps realise.

+ Volvo man gets cool

+ Volvo English Channel Ocean Race

+ How Ford would have made a Rover