Cyan Racing Volvo P1800 GT Is One Swede Ride

• Cyan Racing is the part of Polestar that Volvo didn’t acquire.
• This company’s newly revealed P1800 GT continues from a previous Cyan P1800 restomod, now aimed at road use.
• Modern four-cylinder turbo and part-carbon structure promises impressive power-to-weight ratio.

Sweden is one of the European countries that possesses the deepest tuner culture, one that often uses old Volvo models as the basis for new specials. But very few get to be as special as this, the Cyan Racing P1800 GT: a spectacular restomod based on the Sixties Volvo coupe.

Cyan Racing is effectively the bit of the Polestar racing team that Volvo didn’t fully acquire back in 2015, which has started to create some limited-run road cars alongside its continuing motorsport activities. The first of these was the Cyan Racing P1800, which we tested in 2022. It combined a part-carbon structure with power from a modern 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbo engine. With 420 horsepower propelling just 2424 pounds, it managed a 4.1-second time to 60 mph and a 12.6-second quarter-mile at 113 mph.

The P1800 GT is a further development, one that is claimed to be more comfortable for road use. Cyan claims it is a grand tourer, its adjustable suspension now developed for “winding country roads and inspiring but comfortable long-distance driving.”

cyan racing volvo p1800 cyan

Power will continue to come from a Volvo-sourced turbo four, but with different power options available from 350 through to 420 horsepower, tuned to deliver drivability rather than just whizz-bang performance. A five-speed manual gearbox made by Holinger is standard, featuring a dogleg change configuration with first gear hung down and left.

The first of Cyan’s P1800 GTs is the one you seen in the pictures here, destined for a customer in the U.S. and featuring a metallic green exterior color with a sand beige interior. We love the chunky corduroy-twill carpets and Momo sports steering wheel. Cyan says the GT’s seats are more comfortable and less restrictive than the track-spec buckets of its first P1800, and the new car also gets retractable safety belts in place of multipoint harnesses and more sound-deadening material.

cyan racing volvo p1800 cyan

Although intended primarily for road rather than circuit use, the GT still uses a titanium roll cage, which adds structural strength as well as safety.

Production will be limited, by both the considerable time it takes to fully build each car from what is effectively the ground up—between 12 and 15 months, according to Cyan—and also by a very serious price. We don’t have a confirmed figure for the GT, but the base price for the first Cyan P1800 was $700,000 back in 2022.