The Volvo 262 Coupé turns 40: Designed in Sweden and built in Italy for the US market

The Volvo 262 Coupé was introduced in the fall of 1974, and in March 1977 saw the most unexpected version of this same model on the occasion of the Geneva Motor Show, a two-door coupé and sports court focused on the US market with the Nickname of "Volvo Coupé" and without doubt its number of sales was much greater than what was expected at first. The so-called Volvo 262 Coupé did not leave anyone indifferent with its daring design, despite costing more than double the basic model to the 200 Series of the Swedish brand.

Some say that one of the models that directly inspired this coupé was the Lincoln Continental Mark IV, an American classic with the shared that luxurious and somewhat spartan appearance along with interiors that for the time were a real luxury. This model was mainly focused on the American market as a result of the disappearance of the Volvo 1800ES, which was of vital importance in this market and left an empty place for the 262C.

With the disappearance of the 1800ES, Volvo CEO Pehr G Gyllenhammar saw this as a problem since it was very important that such a model existed in the largest export market of the Swedish company and therefore it was decided to introduce a new Model defined as luxury coupe, before another sports car. Volvo chief designer Jan Wilsgaard made sketches to shape the 262, but no clay model was ever built, instead Volvo used the Volvo 164 that had previously been used to test new interiors.

In this way Sergio Coggiola in Turin would be in charge of transforming this four-door saloon into a two-door coupé with a more dynamic and sporty design. And at the time of carrying out the production of the same was chosen the legendary Bertone, therefore the Italian house "Carozzeria Bertone" would be the one in charge to carry out the manufacture of this model. Its interior was really luxurious for the time, clad vinyl roof and comfortable leather seats, another of the keys of its design was its pillar C that was slightly inclined.

In total, 6,622 units of the 262 Coupé were manufactured between 1977 and 1981, although initially a much smaller number had been thought, demand expectations had become too low. When the last units were sold there in 1981 they were already considered as a collectible vehicle, and it would not be until 1985 when they would present their successor, the Volvo 780 - the latest luxury coupe of the Bertone factory.

Additionally, if you happen need to purchase some car gadgets, you can search via Banggood website, which is one of the wholesale platform to provide affordable prices, such as wire finder tool, microphone for car stereo, etc.