The Duett is an automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 from Volvo

Volvo Cars

Volvo Car Corporation, or Volvo Personvagnar AB, is a Swedish automobile manufacturer founded in 1927, in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Volvo was originally formed as a subsidiary company to the ball bearing maker SKF. When Volvo AB was introduced on the Swedish...

 that was in production from 1953 to 1969.

The name Duett was intended to signify a car that could be used as a delivery vehicle during the week and as a comfortable sedan away from work.

The Duett was produced in three body styles: an estate car (or station wagon

Station wagon

A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

), a panel van

Panel van

A panel van is a form of solid van, smaller than a lorry or truck, without rear side windows...

, and, in small numbers, a bare chassis with no body from the windshield rearward.

Ladder frame design

The design is based on the Volvo PV sedan and shares its engine and front suspension with that model. However, unlike the PV, which had a unibody design and a coil spring

Coil spring

A Coil spring, also known as a helical spring, is a mechanical device, which is typically used to store energy and subsequently release it, to absorb shock, or to maintain a force between contacting surfaces...

 rear suspension, the Duett used a ladder frame with leaf spring

Leaf spring

Originally called laminated or carriage spring, a leaf spring is a simple form of spring, commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles...

s supporting the rear.

While the Duett has been criticized as a regressive design by those who point out that the ladder-frame car was based on Volvo's first unibodied car; the use of a separate ladder chassis provided Volvo with an easy solution in their desire to produce a suitable commercial vehicle. The availability of the bare chassis also allowed Swedish coach builders such as Grip, Valbo and Nordbergs to build Duett-based pickup trucks, convertible

Convertible

A convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away having windows which wind-down inside the doors, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle...

s and specialized commercial vehicles. The versatility of the ladder-frame design also made the Duett a popular choice as a base for customized vehicles such as hot rod

Hot rod

Hot rods are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. One explanation is that the term is a contraction of "hot roadster," meaning a roadster that was modified for speed. Another possible origin includes modifications to or...

s and EPA tractor

Tractor

A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...

s.

The Duett was the only automobile marketed by Volvo in the United States that used a separate frame. All other models were of unibody construction.

PV445

The PV445 was based on the PV444 saloon car and shared its 2-piece flat paned windshield.

P210

The P210 replaced the P445 in the early 1960s. It is distinguishable from the PV445 by its use of a single-piece curved windshield, which it shares with the PV544.

Demise and replacement

The final P210 rolled off the line in 1969, four years after the end of production of the PV544 on which it was based. The Duett was replaced by the Express, a high-roofed version of the Volvo 145 estate wagon.