Volvo Cars on Tuesday gave the first sign of its design direction under new Chinese owners, unveiling a global concept car at the Shanghai car show that the Swedish group hopes will help shed its stodgy image.

The unveiling of the car – made larger, flashier and sleeker than traditional Volvos, partly to attract Chinese buyers – has been keenly awaited for the clues it could give to the working relationship between the group and Geely, the Chinese carmaker that bought Volvo Cars last year.

Geely’s purchase of Volvo Cars is the biggest acquisition of an overseas brand by a Chinese carmaker. It is viewed as a model of a successful acquisition in the automobile sector by Beijing, which is encouraging other China carmakers to look overseas for targets.