Barcelona has become the Mecca of designers and creative people. Seat has had its Centro Tecnico at Martorell for ages of course and the Volkswagen Group opened its European Style Centre for advanced research in Sitges several years ago. Renault on the other hand and just a few months later Volvo with its new Strategic Design Barcelona have opted to settle in the centre of Barcelona itself.
As its name suggests the new Volvo studio has a specific strategic role. Having joined Ford’s Premium Automotive Group, Volvo has gained access to a wider range of floorpans for its own products, including smaller models than its current entry level S/V40, though it intends to maintain the same high standards and contents.
As Peter Horbury, Volvo’s Director of Design, explains: “This centre was not created solely to offer Sweden’s designers a holiday in Sunny Spain. We also chose this city for its traffic. We’ve had a studio in California for years, but the cars over there are huge, the roads are wide and parking space abounds. If our intention is to design compact cars, Barcelona offers us an ideal training school in a European dimension”.
Volvo’s new Catalan studio opened for business in late 2000, initially on temporary premises. Then early this year it moved into its permanent home, a 250 sq.m. apartment on the third floor of an elegant Art Decò building. The man in charge is the chief designer, an Englishman called David Ancona who heads a team of seven designers (six Spaniards, one Franco-Greek) plus a Swedish engineer, though one or two temporary visitors may drop in from time to time. The high percentage of Spanish designers on the team reflects Volvo’s determination to seek out some “Latin Soul”.
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 129
