My assignment in Gothenburg was in many ways the highlight of my thirty-plus years with Volvo. Representing North America’s interests on the project team tasked with developing the replacements for Volvo’s first-generation S40 and V40 compact sedans and wagons, I had the opportunity to work with engineers and product planners who were adjusting to life in the Ford galaxy (pun intended), as well as the near-total redefinition of the project as our previous joint venture with Mitsubishi was deep-sixed in favor of our new collaborators in Dearborn and Hiroshima.
“Doing a small car is like tailoring a dwarf”, GM’s celebrated Styling chief Bill Mitchell is reported to have said. Adding to this haberdashery challenge, when compared to the existing S40, the new car would be shorter (ostensibly to increase the apparent visual “distance” between it and the mid-size Volvo S60 on the showroom floor), taller, and wider (to provide more passenger room and cargo space). Not exactly a repeat of Harley Earl’s “longer, lower, wider” mantra, but perhaps one better-suited for the compact-class automotive environment of the mid-aughts.
