ABOUT THE VOLVO C30

The Volvo C30 is a sports coupe produced by Volvo (part of the Ford Motor Company Group).

The C30 is a three-door, four-seat hatchback powered by straight-4 and straight-5 engines. Despite the name, the car is the hatchback version of the S40/V50/C70 range and therefore uses Ford C1 platform. The production car was officially unveiled at the 2006 Paris Motor Show. In mid-2006, the C30 was approved for production launch in late 2006 in Europe.

The C30 went on sale in Canada in March 2007 as a 2007 model, and in October 2007 in the United States as a 2008 model, with the T5 as the single version.
It is being marketed as a premium hatchback or "sports coupe" specially designed for first-time Volvo buyers and the youth market. Production is expected to be 65,000 units a year, 75% for sale in the European market.

Notably, the design of the C30 recalls another important Volvo, the 1800ES, the estate adaptation of the P1800 Coupe. According to Simon Lamarre, chief studio designer, "the 1800ES has become one of the icons for Volvo," inspiring the design of the Volvo C30. However, not everyone is pleased with the C30s "sawed-off rear" and calling it "Volvo's AMC Gremlin."

The C30 is offered with a wide variety of petrol and diesel engines. Petrol engines include a 100 hp 1.6 litre I4, a 125 hp 1.8 litre I4, a 145 hp 2.0 litre I4, a 170 hp 2.4 liter inline-5, and a 227 hp turbocharged 2.5 litre inline-5. Diesel engines will be a 109 hp 1.6 litre inline-4, a 136 hp 2.0 litre inline-4, and a 180 hp 2.4 litre inline-5.

All models will be fitted with a manual gearbox, and the inline-5 petrol versions will have automatic transmissions as an option. Speculation suggesting that a 1.4 litre inline-4 petrol engine would be offered proved false and the smallest engine in the range is the 1.6 litre engines. An upgraded sound system includes a digital 5×130 watt ICE Power amplifier from Alpine featuring Dolby Pro Logic II Surround, and 10 loudspeakers from Danish Dynaudio, appealing to the youth market.

Three modified C30s were shown at the 2006 SEMA event: Evolve's C30, IPD's C30 and a Heico Sportiv/Burton Snowboard C30. The 2008 model year brings some minor changes, mostly adapting the interior to the facelifted S40/V50 and including as standard an Aux audio socket. Only the T5 2.5 litre turbocharged gasoline engine is available in the United States, for both manual and automatic transmissions Volvo is developing a plug-in hybrid electric version of the C30 at their California development centre.

A concept of the C30 hybrid called the ReCharge was shown in September 2007 at the Frankfurt auto show. The hybrid C30 will be a flex-fuel or diesel-electric hybrid with a powertrain design similar to General Motors' E-Flex platform and its Chevrolet Volt concept vehicle. That is, it will use a series-hybrid design in which the vehicle is driven directly by electric motors powered by a lithium-ion battery pack. A small internal combustion engine will have no direct connection to the drivetrain, but will function only as a backup generator when necessary to recharge the batteries.

The C30 hybrid will have a range of approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) on battery power alone, and will recharge from a standard home electrical outlet in about three hours.

Thanks to Wikipedia for contributing to this FAQ!