Volvo 780 Turbo
Italian tailoring, Swedish structure, and a turbo four made Volvo's rare flagship coupe a distinctly cross-border grand tourer.
1987 Volvo 780 Turbo · Rutger van der Maar · CC BY 2.0
Research pending
A matching completed auction sale has not been verified for this exact year, body, trim, engine, transmission and market.
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More than a set of wheels.
Volvo unveiled the 780 at the 1985 Geneva motor show as the most exclusive member of the 700 family. Bertone designed and built the body and unique luxury cabin in Italy, while Volvo supplied the 760-based engineering. The 1987 continental-European turbo combined the tax-friendly 2.0-liter B200ET with a manual-overdrive gearbox; later 780 Turbos used different engines and should not be mixed into this profile.
Look a little closer.
Its body and luxury cabin were built by Bertone in Italy around Volvo 760-based engineering.
Photos show an example of the model or generation. The pictured vehicle’s year, equipment, or modifications can differ from the specification described here.
Why the engine code matters
The simple word 'Turbo' hides several different 780s. For model year 1987, the documented European turbo is the 1,986 cc B200ET at 161 PS with manual overdrive. The better-known 2,316 cc B230FT arrives later, and the 16-valve B204GT belongs to the final years. Using the later 2.3-liter figures would give this 1987 car the wrong engine, output, and gearbox story.
Source: Volvo Bertone: 780 technical data ↗A body built across borders
The 780 was Swedish in engineering and identity but Italian in its body and cabin execution. Bertone reshaped the upright 700-series vocabulary into a lower two-door flagship without abandoning Volvo's long wheelbase or comfort-first mission. That makes the car a grand tourer rather than a pure sports car.
Source: Volvo Cars: 780 legacy model ↗Where these facts come from
- Volvo Cars: 780 legacy model
- Volvo Cars media: 700 series
- Volvo Bertone: 780 technical data
- Volvo 1987 model-year press kit
Selected facts checked for this edition. Some source pages link to broader model families. Last reviewed 2026-10-03.