Volvo will celebrate its centennial in 2027 and the company is already starting to ramp up the celebrations. Last year saw the opening of the World of Volvo in Gothenburg, a vast circular timber structure designed by Scandinavian design specialists Henning Larsen.
Volvo Centum typeface by Dalton Maag (Image credit: Volvo)
2026 will see another significant design upheaval, albeit on a much smaller and less obvious scale. The arrival of a new brand typeface, Volvo Centum, manages to combine the company’s obvious love of modernist design with its obsessive pursuit of safety.
The work of London-based type design studio Dalton Maag, the new typeface is designed ‘to improve readability, sharpen attention, and promote a calmer, safety-focused driving experience.’
Dalton Maag's team developing the Volvo Centum typeface (Image credit: Volvo)
Dalton Maag's team developing the Volvo Centum typeface (Image credit: Volvo)
With so much information conveyed via screens – especially capacitive touch screens – legibility and clarity have become an essential component of a modern car’s HMI. Volvo Centum is a sans serif of exceptional clarity and simplicity, designed for what the company calls ‘glance-driven environments.’
Dalton Maag's Volvo Centum typeface in use (Image credit: Volvo)
The first car to be installed with Volvo Centum is the newly revised XC60 mid-size SUV and its upcoming all-new EX60 electric sibling. Over-the-air updates will then be used to roll out the typeface across millions of other cars.
The newly refreshed Volvo XC60 (Image credit: Volvo)
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