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Thirty years ago, Volvo engineers were tasked with creating a drivable car that weighed less than 1500 pounds, could safely seat two people, and achieved at least 58 mpg. The result of the company's Lightweight Component Project was the LCP 2000, a diesel-powered hatchback constructed of aluminum, magnesium, high-strength plastic, and carbon fiber. PopMech drove it a few months after its debut, and found it to be "a viable proposition." However, while the EPA pegged the Volvo concept at 56 mpg city/81 highway with a respectable 11-second 0-to-60 time and 110 mph top speed, then-auto editor Wade Hoyt mused, "Does anyone care? Since we're in the middle of a gas glut and fuel prices have stabilized, few car buyers seem very interested in economy at the moment."

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How times have changed.

While Volvo never put the car into production despite locating parts suppliers and devising a mass production scenario, there's a fair amount of tech inside the LCP that was impressively prescient. Here's what the automaker got right about today—30 years ago.

Build Materials

Built on an all-aluminum chassis, the LCP features magnesium subframes, plastic body panels, and even carbon fiber door frames. Back in the early '80s these materials were almost exclusively used in motorsports because of their astronomical price tag. Today, thanks to vastly improved manufacturing techniques, GM is using magnesium sheet panels in production cars, aluminum is quickly becoming the go-to material for Ferrari, and BMW's i3 EV will feature an all-carbon-fiber passenger cell.

Diesel Powertrain

Volvo devised two distinct three-cylinder turbodiesel engines for the LCP: a magnesium 1.3-liter powerplant producing 50 hp and weighing only 26.5 pounds, and a more traditional 88-hp cast-iron 1.4-liter engine which could run on a variety of fuels including low-octane gasoline and sunflower oil. Today, low-displacement turbocharged engines are all the rage: See Ford's tiny 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine for one recent example. And thanks to ever-increasing CAFE standards we think they're here to stay.

Additionally, diesels, which have been much more common overseas, are finally making a welcome return to the States, with Chevrolet recently releasing the 2014 Cruze Diesel—the most fuel efficient non-hybrid, and the first diesel-powered car from Chevy since 1986.


The LCP's lines wont raise eyebrows today. But in an era of automotive design largely dominated by angular lines and boxy proportions, its slippery aerodynamics were about as striking as VW's XL1 is today. Volvo engineers were simply ahead of their time. With a drag coefficient of 0.25, the LCP is just as aerodynamic as a current-generation Toyota Prius.

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