Wooden gear lever for Heico’s Volvo C70

Wooden gear lever for Heico’s Volvo C70

Thonet, a furniture brand, showed off its first automotive part at the Geneva show: a gear shift lever. Done in cooperation with famous Volvo tuner Heico Sportiv and the Swedish carmaker itself, the launch took place in the exclusive ‘Volvo S60 Lounge’ which was completely fitted out by Thonet.

Jointly developed by Thonet and Heico, the gear lever represents a combination of tradition and modernity, harking back to Thonet’s longstanding tradition of wood manufacturing. The curved shape of the lever “conveys lightness and reflects the design language of the floating centre console”. Crafted from the fine oak, beech or walnut wood and hand made in an elaborate multi-stage process, it’s seen here in the refreshed Volvo C70, with interior fittings by Heico.

The Volvo C70 is a four-seat coupe convertible that sells from RM345,381 (for the 2.4i, T5 goes for RM400K) in Malaysia. It’s a full four seater with a three-piece steel roof that folds in 30 seconds, pretty long for today’s standards. Given a facelift late last year, the C70 now comes with Volvo’s new front end look, as seen on the XC60 and new S60, and a fresh design for the rear light cluster.

For images and a video of the facelifted C70, click here. More pictures of the Heico-Thonet variant and the gear knob is after the jump.

[zenphotopress number=999 album=978]

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Danny Tan

Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.

 

Comments

  • hanssen on Mar 19, 2010 at 6:28 pm

    Macam tak siap…anyway nice look!

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  • Everything abt Volvo is unique! BUT when it comes to their backup service its even BETTER!

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  • wochomi on Mar 19, 2010 at 6:35 pm

    Steering buat kayu lah….

    Very soon we will be driving FlintStone's car.

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  • later on rims also kayu..

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  • MonfereBlogspot on Mar 19, 2010 at 7:04 pm

    Reminds me the Ikea furniture…hehe

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  • MonfereBlogspot on Mar 19, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    db8 said,

    March 19, 2010 @ 10:43 am

    later on rims also kayu..

    —————————————————————-

    Later put Ikea chairs into it…hehe

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  • Mufasa on Mar 19, 2010 at 7:13 pm

    why they do this to us? we also have feeling….

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  • Kambing Gurun on Mar 19, 2010 at 7:15 pm

    The wood looks awkward in a modern interior of leather, plastic and aluminum.

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  • narrowband on Mar 19, 2010 at 7:18 pm

    Damn, Heico really does wonders to a Volvo…

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  • they shud've done more than just the lever…prolly the floating center console as well and yes…the steering wheels

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  • lkf0512 on Mar 19, 2010 at 7:31 pm

    Perhaps some wood cone speakers as well?

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  • nice looking but also looking fragile..

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  • sicilian_defense on Mar 19, 2010 at 7:53 pm

    Wow! What a fugly piece of gear knob… am I missing something here? This is more ah beng than anything I have seen. OMG! Oh new its a conti-acquired taste then.

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  • Faisal on Mar 19, 2010 at 7:55 pm

    not nice..

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  • everything is nice except for the gear lever….

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  • joseph on Mar 19, 2010 at 11:26 pm

    Ini gear tak boleh pegang tangan basah. nanti kayu rosak ooo

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  • mystvearn (Member) on Mar 20, 2010 at 1:48 am

    Wood will change colour, and degrade quicker compared to plastic/rubber gear knob right. Or have they created something that stays forever?

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  • acerman on Mar 20, 2010 at 4:38 am

    Hope no anai-anai in the car.

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  • lol no anai-anai

    anyway its pretty creative

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  • farizyahya on Mar 20, 2010 at 8:54 pm

    looks out of place…..somehow…..

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  • farizyahya on Mar 20, 2010 at 8:55 pm

    looks out of place….somehow

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  • looks terrible.

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  • after this: plastic seats from ikea. :D

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  • Mazda MPS is a stoop on Mar 22, 2010 at 8:12 pm

    look like ah beng's stuff aaa…nowadays automaker also want to tiru ah beng…maybe because market is much wider (so many ah beng and counting )

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  • hanssen on Mar 23, 2010 at 12:06 am

    Nowadays, kayu comes in good quality..so don't wory if your car's pedal, fender and shaft in kayooooooooo!!!

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