Volvo borrows cachet and power from its Polestar EV brand
A "Polestar Engineered" option is coming to Volvo S60, V60 and XC60 plug-in hybrids.
The $155,000 Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid with 600 horsepower and a 100-mile driving range isn't coming to market until next year, but its parent Volvo is giving us a taste ahead of that. It just unveiled the "Polestar Engineered" flavor of its upcoming S60 hybrid sports sedan, and will also offer the option on its V60 estate and XC60 SUV vehicles in 2019.
The S60, which will be built exclusively in the US, gets a bump from 400 horsepower to 415 horsepower combined (both the gas and electric motors), as well as a torque increase. Software upgrades also improve fuel consumption and emissions.
It also gets new lightweight wheels and Brembo mono-block brake calipers that improve heat tolerance while reducing it at the same time. There are, of course, some aesthetic upgrades. The calipers are painted in Polestar yellow, and the emblems, black chrome exhaust pipes and golden seat belts will let others know your Volvo is special, much as the M-badge and AMG symbols do for BMW and Mercedes.
All Polestar Engineered Volvos are T8 models with twin electric and gasoline hybrid motors. The XC60, for one, has an electric-only range of 18 miles, good enough for tooling around town or to work. The BMW 3 series-fighting S60 will be unveiled in exactly one week (pricing isn't known yet), but Volvo showed off a few closeup teaser images in the gallery above.
