Volvo V90 Cross Country Volvo Ocean Race Has Carpets Made From Ocean Trash

As the little seahorse holding a Q tip proved, we're dumping a lot of stuff into the ocean. Volvo found just the right message to send out at the start of the 2017/2018 Ocean Race: we need to clean it up!

Those abandoned fishing nets are made from nylon, a material that doesn't really dissolve over time. Animals get trapped, and it breaks our hearts to see them like that. Volvo is going to turn the ocean's trash into a fiber called Econyl, and use it for its carpets.

Beyond that, we think the V90 Cross Country Volvo Ocean Race is positively dripping with style. Instead of black, it's got matte grey body cladding over the bumpers and side skirts. A few bright orange accents also stand out over the Crystal White base paint.

If this style looks familiar, that's because you've seen it before. Back in 2014, the Swedish company came out with an SUV concept called the XC Coupe and it too had matte grey accents, a lot more of them in fact.

The new wheels and top box also remind us of the X Coupe's design. While we don't know the price of this special edition, Volvo says it will donate €100 ($116) for each car sold to a scientific program looking into the plastics that are floating in the ocean.

The initial batch will include 3,000 units to be sold in 30 markets such as the United States, China, most of Europe and Saudi Arabia.

All the boats in the Ocean Race will be fitted with individual sensors this year, capable of gathering data from remote areas of the planet. Pressure, wind speed, and temperature reading will help us better understand how the ocean currents flow.