Volvo Crosses The Universe, Ends Up With A Lincoln

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Pull your eyes away from its fussy front-end treatment for one moment, and you’ll find that Volvo’s Concept Universe displays some classically elegant luxury-flagship lines. A long, sculpted hood, a kicked-back coupe-like cabin with powerful haunches and suicide rear doors all add up to an imposing but athletic flagship, with proportions that scream luxury. In fact, having escaped from the clutches of the serial luxury-brand mismanagers at Ford, Volvo appears to have created the Lincoln flagship that everyone has been begging for. Go ahead: compare this Concept Universe to Lincoln’s MKR Concept and tell us which looks like the better Lincoln flagship. Graft a subtle waterfall grille on this bad boy, and China could save Lincoln’s image the way Chinese designers were able to re-capture Buick’s all-American magic with designs like the LaCrosse. As a Volvo, on the other hand, the Concept Universe may be just a tad too ambitious.




Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Panzerfaust Panzerfaust on Apr 19, 2011

    Everything on it is nicely done but the front end.... which car am I talking about? Both, the concept Volvo looks like they built the entire car to support a five foot wide sub woofer. The last thing it needs is a waterfall grille, unless someone somewhere has figured out how to do that subtly. And Ford hasn't been doing subtle front end treatments since? The MKR isn't bad either except again for the WTF front end. The interior on the Volvo is very cool, entirely impractical but maybe the design cues can be carried over into the real world of NTSB crash tests and suppliers who only know of three colors, none of which are primary.

  • Pacificpom2 Pacificpom2 on Apr 20, 2011

    Bristol front grill? Not the blatant BMW copy, but the 405

  • Jeff Not bad just oil changes and tire rotations. Most of the recalls on my Maverick have been fixed with programming. Did have to buy 1 new tire for my Maverick got a nail in the sidewall.
  • Carson D Some of my friends used to drive Tacomas. They bought them new about fifteen years ago, and they kept them for at least a decade. While it is true that they replaced their Tacomas with full-sized pickups that cost a fair amount of money, I don't think they'd have been Tacoma buyers in 2008 if a well-equipped 4x4 Tacoma cost the equivalent of $65K today. Call it a theory.
  • Eliyahu A fine sedan made even nicer with the turbo. Honda could take a lesson in seat comfort.
  • MaintenanceCosts Seems like a good way to combine the worst attributes of a roadster and a body-on-frame truck. But an LS always sounds nice.
  • MRF 95 T-Bird I recently saw, in Florida no less an SSR parked in someone’s driveway next to a Cadillac XLR. All that was needed to complete the Lutz era retractable roof trifecta was a Pontiac G6 retractable. I’ve had a soft spot for these an other retro styled vehicles of the era but did Lutz really have to drop the Camaro and Firebird for the SSR halo vehicle?
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