Volvo is bringing one of its prior Geneva concepts, fresh from the year 1972, to this year's show, as part of retrospective of its past conceptual works, as it were. The Volvo Experimental Safety Car (VESC), which was shown at the Geneva motor show that year, was one answer the super Swedes devised in response to increasing concerns about automobile safety during the late 1960s. Either that or it's a long, lost cousin of the 1979 Mazda 626.
The VESC was a literal incubator for automotive safety technologies now in full bloom: telescoping bumper supports, antilock brakes and airbags, if not a nose designed to catapult pedestrians into a perfect half-gainer, landing on their feet like cats instead of being smashed into the windshield (that's reportedly still in the "empirical stages"). Many of the advancements tested in the VESC were, in later years, applied to Volvo's 240/260 series.
Volvo's also showing a range of its prior concepts at this year's Geneva show, including the 2005 3CC, shown this past year at the Michelin Bibendeum, the 2001 Safety Concept Car (SCC) and the 1992 Environmental Concept Car (ECC).
Four Volvo Concept Cars At Geneva Show [Car Pages (UK)]
More Experimental Volvos [Volvo Museum]
Related:
Volvo VCC: The Laptop of Automobiles [internal]