Volvo debuted the first generation C70 at the 1996 Paris Motor Show,[13] and introduced it in Europe as a 1997 model, and a year later as a 1998 model in North America — with 2.0 (sold mostly in Italy), a low-pressure turbo (2.4L) and a high-pressure turbo (2.0L and 2.3L), 5-cylinder, turbocharged petrol engines and manualand automatic transmissions. Ian Callum[14][15] designed the exterior and Mexican designer Jose Diaz de la Vega[16] led the interior design team.

The C70 broke Volvo's decades-long styling tradition of boxy, rectilinear designs and was Volvo's first luxury coupe since the 780. According to a tongue-in-check remark made by Peter Horbury, Volvo's design chief from 1991 to 2002, with the C70, Volvo "kept the toy, and threw away the box!"[17] "Our vision was to design a convertible that would meet the needs of a family of four looking for comfortable blue-sky motoring in a vehicle also providing stylish looks, performance and faultless driving and road-holding."