Geneva, Switzerland -- Valmet Automotive presents its newest concept car, The Valmet Coupé Convertible, at the Geneva Motor Show 5th - 17th March, 2002. This concept car embodies convertibles with retractable hard top, which have awoken more and more interest among the customers.

The idea of this concept was to create a convertible, which offers superb coupé-like styling when the roof is up. The innovative roof folding method offers the rear seat passengers excellent space utilisation. The Coupé Convertible is full 4-seater with spacious luggage compartment whether the roof is up or down. Furthermore, the new roof concept can be applied to cars with short rear overhang, such as hatchbacks and compact cars.

The Valmet Coupé Convertible is developed and manufactured in the Technical Centre of Valmet Automotive in Uusikaupunki. The concept car is again based on the Volvo C70 Convertible, which gave a good basis for further development of the ideas. The Coupé Convertible is the third and newest retractable hard top concept created by Valmet Automotive.

This concept is a unique car representing the specialty vehicle know-how of Valmet Automotive. The purpose is not to launch this car into production, although the concept solutions have been made series production in mind. The concept car embodies technical innovations and space solutions, which can be utilised in the future specialty vehicle projects.

Valmet Automotive is a specialty car manufacturer in Finland. Today we produce Porsche Boxster, Saab 9-3 Convertible and Saab 9-3 Viggen, totalling 42,000 cars in 2001. Our facilities in Uusikaupunki consist of a body shop, paint shop, final assembly and a product design and development centre. The number of personnel is 1,600. Valmet Automotive is today owned by Metso Corporation (90%) and ThyssenKrupp Automotive AG (10%), one of the top 20 automotive systems suppliers in the world.

SOURCE: Valmet