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Volvo Concept Estate hauls in great expectations [w/videos]

You're looking at the third leg of Volvo's award-winning concept trilogy, the Concept Estate. Despite its banal name, this sweeping longroof showcar has our attention like few other cars at the Geneva Motor Show.
It's not just that we have a weakness for shooting brakes or Volvo's take on the genre in particular (we can see some P1800ES in this design). We just think this car is exceptionally well surfaced, with a fantastic stance and the sort of clean lines that are singularly appropriate of a Scandinavian design. We also appreciate the details that are expected to inform future production models, including the T-shaped headlamps, strong rear shoulders and floating grille mount. In fact, the vast majority of the Concept Estate's design idiom is expected to make it to showrooms in future models, starting with the long-overdue, second-generation XC90 crossover.
We hope - but don't expect - that attitude carries over to the interior, which has stunning, white leather, floating clamshell seats backed in plaid. If there's one cabin feature that's expected to make it to production, it's a derivative of the car's new infotainment system, which features a massive touchscreen with tablet-like gesture controls.

This Volvo truck is for the birds... literally

If you were mentally scarred by the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Birds, you may not want to watch this video. For everyone else, this is a rather perplexing event. It appears that thousands of pigeons are released from a Volvo truck at the command of a whistle. It looks visually stunning, but for what purpose? Well, we're not entirely sure, but it looks to be the simultaneous release at the start of a major pigeon race.
Now, we don't suspect that Volvo has eschewed its self-titled Volvo Ocean Race for a more avian-inspired competition. We're also not quite sure where this competition is being held, but it may be an annual event, as we also found a similar video with a different MAN rig on YouTube that was posted in 2011. but if you have even the slightest case of Ornithophobia, you best steer clear of this feathered mob. Otherwise, check out the video of this massive flock on the move in the video below. We've even thrown in a video of the gas station scene from Hitchcock's 1963 classic to get you in the mood.

Volvo Concept Coupe is a long-legged Swedish GT [w/video]

They may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the marque, but Volvo has a long and surprisingly lustrous lineage of coupes in its stable, from the P1800 to the 142 to the Bertone 262C to the 780 Bertone and the recently departed C70. Few of those two-doors have stood the test of time the way the voluptuous P1800 has, a fact the company's designers are apparently keenly aware of. It is that exact model that Volvo says they've drawn upon for this new Concept Coupe, and while the showcar bears little resemblance to the smaller P1800 that inspired it, both cars have a visual grace and presence that has often eluded the brand's grasp.
While not completely ripping up the design language established by the 2001 S60 in 2000, the Coupe Concept is arguably the most radical design statement we've seen from Volvo in well over a decade. Gone is the tone set by the drop-shoulder hood, and in its place is a more flowing, organic look, with the generous proportions of a grand tourer. The concept is a particularly nice piece of work, from its new T-shaped daytime running lamps to its pronounced rear fenders that subtly echo those of the P1800. Interestingly, Volvo informs that the first production model to benefit from this new aesthetic will be the next-generation XC90 crossover - and judging by the teasers we recently saw, this language looks like it'll translate nicely to the CUV's larger shape.
The Concept Coupe is powered by a through-the-road plug-in hybrid architecture composed of a twincharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder powering the front wheels and an electric motor servicing the rears. All-in, Volvo says the system is good for 400 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque.