Longevity is the name of the game when it comes to the motor vehicle industry. An ability to sustain sales and growth but also innovation is integral to the success of any business. However, in the car industry meeting these goals needs deep pockets and faithful investors. And Volvo has these. Volvo has had a stable history as a car maker and ownership has only changed twice in its history. From 1999-2010 Ford owned Volvo which was then most recently purchased by Chinese Car Company Geely. Before that Volvo was owned by the Volvo Group from its inception.
Volvo yesterday celebrated its 90th anniversary with the first production XC60 rolling off the assembly line exactly 90 years after the first production Volvo was completed. The new XC60 comes with updated looks in line with the rest of the Volvo family. The ‘hammer-of-Thor’ headlight detailing present in the rest of the range is now present as are the updated rear lights. While the first ever Volvo only ever had 275 examples make Volvo is hoping to cross the 1 million mark with the XC60 this month. It has sold a total of 966,000 examples since 2008 and meets around 30% of Volvo’s sales world wide.
As ever with any Volvo safety has been at the forefront and there are a raft of safety features on the new car. There is a new system dubbed Oncoming Lane Mitigation which actively steers the car away from a head on collision with oncoming traffic. Volvo’s blind Spot Detection system can also now actively steer the car away during lane changes to avoid collisions with vehicles hidden by the car’s blind spots.
The XC60 will be offered with 5 different engine choices from launch. At the base level there is the D4 diesel with 190hp and 400 Nm of torque and the T5 petrol engine meting out 240hp with 350 Nm of torque. At the top of the range we have the T8 petrol plug in hybrid with a combined output of 420hp and 640 Nm of torque. In the mid-range there is the D5 diesel and T6 petrol with 235hp and 320hp respectively and 480 Nm of torque for the diesel and 400 Nm of torque for the petrol. All the engines are four cylinder units keeping in step with Volvo’s philosophy of using environmentally friendly power plants.
Volvo has had a very strong run with the XC60. Its striking visuals will appeal to many buyers but its limited engine range might deter some from purchasing it. The closest competitor in the segment would be German rival Audi’s Q5. Already a market leader globally in the premium mid-size SUV segment. The Audi Q5 has a wider range of engines on offer.However, not all of the Q5’s variants are all wheel drive like the XC60. There is a top of the range SQ5 churning out 350hp and 500 Nm of torque compared to the T8’s 420hp and 640Nm of torque.
The XC60 is currently available to order.
