By Eileen Falkenberg-HullShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberVolvo’s new colors, materials and finishes are a bit more daring than they have been in the past. Amongst the sea of white, gray and black hues there are fresh, bold colors permeating the Scandinavian company’s palette.
Sara Erichsen Susnjar is Volvo Cars’ senior design manager responsible for color, materials and finish for the company’s vehicles that end with -60. Outside her office at Volvo’s design studio in Torslanda, Sweden, there are acres of forest. “That's where we gain a lot of inspiration,” she told Newsweek.
The colors of the forest change all the time, she said. “Even if it’s not snowy anymore, maybe it’s icy instead and that brings out other colors.”
...Susnjar pointed to a paint color display. There, alongside those typical hues is Forest Lake, a dark green-blue color that anyone who has flown into one of Sweden’s regional airports will instantly recognize as being inspired by the inland bodies of water that dot the country from top to bottom.
When developing the color, Susnjar’s team asked for something with a more saturated look than the Pine Gray that was available. She describes the new color as what you see the moment you walk through Sweden’s woodland, into a clearing at a pond where the sunlight reflects on the surface of the water.
The team has gone further afield in the development of another of its hues, which is a reaction from the now-overturned decision Volvo Cars made to become an all-electric vehicle brand. The creation of Aurora Silver was a process that started with the need to find a color that blended with the EV mission. Susnjar calls it, “almost a digital color, but how [digital] blends with the natural world.”
She says the color is, “very dense and silverish, but then it [also] has this purple flop, as we say, which we connect to the winter sky and reflections in ice, in glass, in water.”
The company’s new herringbone-patterned seat fabric was designed to mimic the push and pull of the coastline. Gothenburg, Volvo’s home base, is located near the Kattegat sea, halfway between the North and Baltic Seas.
“We had a German design boss some years ago, and when she saw this seat, she said, ‘Oh, this is the ultimate Gothenburg seat.’ She really liked that it had all the components of being a Scandinavian, the weather and the coldness,” Susnjar said.
Some colors Susnjar’s team comes up with aren’t inspired by nature, but by the sheer interest of changing up the current palette mix. In prior years, Volvo offered a rich, cinnamon brown-like paint color on its vehicles, notably its station wagons.
With new vehicle introductions on the horizon, the team started to create a new brown. “This was supposed to be a dark brown,” Susnjar said pointing to a Mulberry Red paint swatch that has a distinctly berry-like tone.
She tells its development story saying, “Then we added some blue into it, and suddenly it became red. And then we thought that this red looks really interesting.”
...She pointed out that the color as it is today, “Looks a bit almost solid and but then when you come close, when the sun shines, you can see, the blue flakes in here that really makes another dimension.”
Despite mulberry being a very in-style color in the fashion world right now, Volvo developed the paint hue long before that was the case.
Susnjar also explained out that Scandinavian design is more than it appears on the surface, whether it’s in the medium of paint or fabric. “Scandinavian design is not shouting,” she said. “It's quite harmonious but when you come close, you see the details.”
Request Reprint & LicensingSubmit CorrectionView Editorial & AI Guidelines
Add Newsweek as a preferred source on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search.Recommended For You
AutosThere’s Science Behind Why an NFL Star Uses His Car to Prep for Games4 min read
AutosFord Reveals Why Its Rallying Cry for the Future Is Only the Beginning5 min read
AutosRed Bull Relied on Commercial Trucking AI Technology For Bike Stunt2 min read
AutosHonda Invests in Soil Carbon Removal Credit Scheme to Offset Emissions3 min read
AutosJeep Charging Ahead with Electrified SUVs, New Dealer Confidence4 min read
AutosMichigan’s All-In Approach to Mobility Goes Far Beyond Cars5 min readRelated Podcasts
Top Stories
NewsExclusive: Democrat Targets Trump’s $175B Immigration Funds for Housing7 min read
For MembersNewsUncommon Knowledge: Will Trump Accounts Pay Off?6 min read
NewsUkraine War Live Updates: Russia Says No ‘Compromise’ Peace Deal Reached2 min read
NewsVideo of Hegseth Telling Military Not to Follow ‘Illegal Orders’ Resurfaces5 min read
NewsDonald Trump’s Major Medicaid Cuts for Abortions Blocked4 min read
WorldDonald Trump’s Honduras Gamble Hangs in Balance as Election Results Turn4 min readTrending
WeatherList of Schools Closed Tuesday as Snowstorm Hits4 min read
TennesseeTennessee Special Election: Behn Teases Another Run After Losing to Van Epps2 min read
Winter StormWinter Storm Warning As 12 Inches of Snow To Hit: ‘Delay All Travel’3 min read
ViralCat Arrives at Vet for Neuter, Staff Not Ready for What’s in the Carrier3 min read
ImmigrationGreen Card Update: New Changes for Holders in December6 min readOpinion
For MembersOpinionConventional Wisdom: Trump Pardons Former Honduran President3 min read
OpinionHas President Trump Ushered in an Era of Peace in the Middle East? Newsweek Contributors Debate6 min read
OpinionRand Paul: My Proposal Will Improve Health Care and Lower Costs | Opinion4 min read
OpinionBridging the AI Velocity Gap | Opinion5 min read
OpinionPaving the Way Forward—It’s Time To Build the Roads and Bridges to America’s Next Golden Age | Opinion4 min read
