During a thorough cleaning of its museum premises, Volvo stumbled upon the Light Component Project 2000, a little-known design study born in 1983.
The vehicle has no powertrain and sports a bizarre rear bench facing the tailgate. Its creator was none other than Rolf Mellde, ex-Saab engineer, who dreamed about designing a super-economical production car that would at the same time be practical and safe enough even by year 2000 standards. The idea first arrived to him in 1979, and the design study was unveiled four years later. It will soon be exhibited at a car show once again, Volvo says.
The core idea was to keep the vehicle under 700 kg (1,540 lbs) of curb weight while ensuring it does not consume more than 4 liters of gasoline per 100 km/h (an equivalent of 59+ MPG).
Volvo built a total of four such prototypes, each with its own technical parameters. The tapering two-door hatchback had a tailgate that you could lift all the way up to climb into a sear seat facing backwards. Power came from a 1.3-liter engine envisioned in 50hp and 90hp variants back in the time. The engine was designed specifically to accept most fuel types indiscriminately, including such an exotic one as canola oil.