Volvo Cars of North America, LLC (VCNA) today released the first official photos of the all-new Volvo C70. With its innovative three-piece retractable hardtop, the second generation C70 is a car that offers the best of both worlds. With the top up, it's a sporty coupe with dramatic, head-turning style. With the top stowed below the rear deck, it's an open-air convertible that invites wind-in-the-hair fun and excitement. What makes the all-new C70 even more appealing is that there is room for four people.

Photos:http://www.volvocars.us/NR/rdonlyres/0FA375D3-0F86-401D-8AF4-6720314F6979/0/c70_
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The all-new Volvo C70 will be unveiled at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show in mid-September, with sales beginning in the U.S. in the spring of 2006 -- just in time for summer.

Unique Safety Solutions

The all-new Volvo C70 was developed to offer new standards of preventive and protective safety in the convertible market. The car has an advanced body structure and several solutions that make it unique among open-top cars. The lack of a fixed roof has been compensated for by reinforcements in the structure and sophisticated safety technology. One unique example is the new door-mounted inflatable curtain, which is part of the enhanced protection system for side impacts. Since the door-mounted inflatable curtain cannot be fitted within the headliner like other Volvos, it is fitted in the door and inflates upwards when it is deployed.

Volvo's safety engineers have fine-tuned the door-mounted inflatable curtain to be extra stiff. As a result, it remains upright for a longer period of time and helps to better protect the head in the event of a side impact. In addition, the curtain deflates slowly to help provide additional protection if the car rolls over. This is a unique solution in the automotive world.

High Torsional Rigidity

The body structure, in a carefully designed network of beams, not only contributes to the car's high safety standards, it also gives the body extremely high torsional rigidity -- twice as high as that of the previous C70 Convertible. With the roof up, torsional rigidity is increased by an impressive 10-15 percent over the convertible.