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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.

Volvo developing new three-cylinder engine family

Pop the hood on a Volvo of recent vintage and you'll find four-, five-, six- and even eight-cylinder engines. But the Swedish automaker is downsizing its engines over the coming years. The new XC90, set to be revealed later this week, will use a new family of four-cylinder engines (like the one pictured above). But that's not even the end of it as emerging reports speak of a new three-cylinder engine family in the works.
The new 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine will, according to reports, help Volvo further cut its carbon emissions in line with constricting regulations in markets like Europe and Australia. There won't be quite as many versions as the four-cylinder range, which will include gasoline and diesel versions in varying states of tune, but the three-pot motor is tipped to be employed in vehicles as large as the S60 and its stablemates. Larger than that, however, and the three-cylinder engine apparently just doesn't have the necessary torque.
Expect the new three-cylinder engine to be introduced sometime later this decade, after the four-cylinder's introduction in 2016. The three-cylinder engine is also set to form the building block of an even more efficient hybrid propulsion system in the future, enabling this new engine family to stay relevant through 2025.

Volvo makes the XC60 disappear into art

For the last few years, Volvo has set up an art display in the Zurich, Switzerland central train station called the Volvo Art Session, allowing select artists - both established and up-and-coming - to create temporary exhibits with one of Volvo's products acting as the centerpiece. This year, six artists from across Europe converged in Zurich to turn a 2014 Volvo XC60 into a work of art.
Each started with a blank white canvas, creating a massive display in what Volvo says is one of the busiest covered public places in Europe, and after each was done, it was all erased for the next artists to come in and do his or her thing. While some made the XC60 a focal point in the art, others made the crossover seemingly disappear. We have a gallery of all six finished pieces, but if you want to see background of the artists or time-lapse videos of their works, head over to VolvoArtSessions.com. This site also shows the exhibits from the prior two years, and a press release can be found below.