► Volvo guns for BMW X4 and Range Rover Velar
► Adventurous styling, cool interior, powerful hybrid
► A mini XC90 with much more manageable footprint
Here’s the new Volvo XC60, a kind of honey-I-shrunk-the-XC90 crossover with all the style and flair of its big brother, but without the girth. It’s just been revealed at the 2017 Geneva motor show.
The XC60 is hugely important for the Swedish carmaker, as the smaller XC line represents 30% of its sales – which might explain why there are so few styling surprises.
But just because it’s staying to the company’s present design script, it’s far from dowdy and conservative. As promised in the earlier teaser photos, the XC60 is a great-looking car inside and out.
It’s dripping with lovely details, which are now Volvo’s design signatures – such as its Thor’s Hammer headlamps and chiselled wedge profile.
The new XC60 will come with a number of powertrain options, topped by the T8 version, a potent hybrid version boasting 403bhp for a 0-62mph time of 5.3 seconds.
Volvo at its best – sticking to script
As well as the headline-grabbing T8, there will be a number of power outputs from its range of downsized engines to suit more modest budgets.
Although we don’t have full specification details yet, Henrik Green, Senior Vice President Product & Quality confirms that the range kicks off with a tax-friendly 187bhp D4 version.
He added that there will be a potentially interesting PowerPulse version, rated at 231bhp, although the 250bhp petrol powered T5 will no doubt tug the heartstrings of anyone nostalgic for the 1990s touring car estates.
European markets will also get a turbo’d and supercharged T6 pushing out 315bhp for proper giant-killing punch.
And the inside story?
No surprises that the XC60’s interior very closely mirrors that of the XC90, V90 and S90 ranges, with a simplified control layout, and their epic portrait-format infotainment screen.
It’s splashed with lightly-coloured leather and matching modernistic wood veneers, while the seats look superbly supportive and hyper-cossetting.
We don’t have full specs yet, but Volvo says that the XC60 comes with an intriguing new CleanZone four-zone climate system that promises to pump ‘Scandinavian-fresh’ no matter how muggy things are outside.
As well as that, expect Volvo’s intuitive infotainment and kick-ass optional Bowers & Wilkins stereo as well as the usual connected services and Smartphone Integration via Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
About that design…
It should play well with SUV buyers who don’t actually like to be seen in such vehicles. ‘It’s an SUV not designed to look down on others but to drive,’ says Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President, Design at Volvo Car Group.
‘I hope that in 10 years, people look back on it as being an icon, in the way they do the 1800S right now,’ he added. We don’t think he was joking, either.
More news from the Geneva motor show