One of my favourite cars is going to get a new face, the Volvo C30 to be precise. The Swedish company has decided to steer clear from emulating their German rivals and its main man, Stefan Jacoby say that this new model will be quintessentially Swedish in terms of its design.. And I'm looking forward to that! It'll be like Ikea with wheels I suppose.

The most distinct difference between its old model and the new one will be that it comes with 5 doors instead of 3. This move is meant to make the C30 more practical and more desirable for family men. Their most important goal though is to compete with the other manufacturers like Ford, Volkswagen and Vauxhall (Opel to us in Singapore) who have well established their place in the world of hot-hatches. Since Jacoby intends to keep things Swedishly simple in the new C30, he says that things will be elegant and minimalistic on both the exterior and the interior, but with 'more interesting choice of materials'. I wonder what that really means.. Also, technology in the car is said to be inspired by Apple so I would expect more minimalism fused with style on the tech front. Everything that was 'bad' about the C30 is now under a revamp. While the old car's rear seats were cramped and with a rubbish boot, the new car will come with more rear passenger space and larger luggage capacity.

Not much news has been released about the engines though, but the current one is already rather perky and fun to drive around. By the looks of it, I feel like I already want one. The model is set to be released in 2012.

[photos courtesy of autoexpress.co.uk]