It is an SUV, it comes from China and was designed in Sweden. Its peculiarity? Hiding a super hybrid propulsion under soft and sinuous lines. It’s called 08 and it’s the latest addition to Lynk & Co, a brand in the Geely galaxy, the Chinese giant that also owns Volvo and Lotus, among others. “This model was born during the pandemic, when working and moving between China and Europe was impossible,” says Stefan Rosen, President of Lynk & Co Design, whom we meet in Gothenburg at the Lynk & Co style center where about 500 people currently work. So we have been ingenious, we have enhanced technology and designed this model exclusively digitally. Our fear was that it might be soulless, well, it doesn’t. I saw the physical model after the game, the day before the presentation to the managerial team. It was exactly as we had thought of it even in real space: I felt a great emotion.”
The 08 also allows Lynk & Co to take a step forward in styling their models compared to what was done by the hybrid 01 and the electric 02. “At the front, we chose to mark the separation between the lights. Higher up is the DRL daytime running light which has become the light signature of our brand and is highly recognizable – continues Rosen -. Underneath, gathered in a black band completely integrated into the car, there are low beam and LED high beams.” The designers worked to achieve a very neat and clean front: “We didn’t want to create an aggressive face. It is our presentation card and was supposed to convey calm and tranquility, but also modernity. That’s why it has very few openings and those that are there are hidden: it almost looks like an electric car.”
The cleaning of the front has been achieved by also moving all those sensors that are usually grouped in the grille. These technologies are located under the mirrors in a special turret that is slightly detached from the rest of the car body. “It is a choice that, in general, has allowed us to better smooth the surfaces and not to surrender to certain technical constraints. We chose to color it in contrast with the bodywork because we want to show how much we have focused on technology.” Also encircling the tech turret is the Lynk & Co lettering, which is illuminated in Asian markets, while in Europe regulations do not currently allow it.
The elegance of the exterior is found in the interior. The environment is refined and two colors are available, light with blue stitching, or dark, while the material of the seats is eco-leather. In the centre of the dashboard there is a huge display from which to control almost all the car’s functions following an “all touch” setting: “We have left physical controls on the steering wheel so that we create it to be more immediate and safer to act on these in the event of operations to be carried out at speed. I think it’s a good mix and one that can please everyone.”
