Volvo Introduces V60 Wagon

Volvo has been through a lot of up and downs lately, while the sales process drug on. Its a scenario that both Swedish automakers, Saab and Volvo, have gone through - albeit Volvo to a much lesser extent.

With the sale to Geely announced, Volvo can begin to focus on product. The S60 was recently launched and an important part of Volvo's future rests on the shoulders of that car. From all indications, it appears Volvo's future is in good hands based off of the S60 - now the V60 as well.

Scandinavian design is back, and better than ever. The new product coming from Volvo (and Saab with the 9-5) looks seriously good.

Gone are the staid, boxy lines of previous Volvos, and in is a muscled, hunkered down look that flows perfectly. And yet, it still looks very "Volvo" - imagine that.

The rear looks a bit similar to the C30, with a great amount of attention given to design details and interacting lines. There is a large rear window with black insert and Volvo's traditional vertical taillights have been given a redesign a la the XC60. You get it - we like it. A lot.

The unique interior of the S60 carries over to the V60. There is a 40/20/40-split rear seat and a fold-flat front passenger seat that provides for a very flexible interior. In addition, rear seat headrests can be folded electrically to create an entirely flat rear load floor.

While load space wasn't a priority over a "coupe-like" design, Volvo says load space was meticulously designed to offer the most possible within the constraints of the design.

The V60 was designed alongside the S60 sedan. There is a wide tailgate with extra space behind the wheel housings and under the load floor to free up available space.

As expected, the V60 is equipped with the latest Volvo safety technologies like City Safety and the Pedestrian Detection system.  It also has Advanced Stability Control and Corner Traction Control.

ASC has a new roll angle sensor that makes it possible to identify a skidding tendency at a very early stage. Corner Traction Control "uses torque vectoring so the car corners even more smoothly." This is accomplished by braking the car's inner driven wheel in cornerning, causing more power to be transmitted to the outer driven wheel.

Engine options are numerous, starting out with the high-performance T6 at the top of the range. The turbocharged 3.0-liter makes 304 horsepower 440 Nm of torque.

Next is the four-cylinder Gasoline Turbocharged Direct Injection (GTDI) engines, available in 2.0-liter and 1.6-liter iterations. The 2.0T GTDI makes 203 hp, while the 1.6-liter is available in two iterations, making 150 hp (T3) and 180 hp (T4). Moving to diesels, there is the 5-cylinder D5 and D3, producing 205 and 163 horsepower, respectively.

All in all, the V60 wagon is shaping up to be an impressive new product for Volvo's lineup. Volvo plans to sell 50,000 V60s, 90 percent to European buyers. Five of the largest markets are Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany.

What about selling the V60 the United States? No mention was made of it. However, given the dismal sales results of past wagons in the U.S, it doesn't look likely. For now, it seems like the XC60 is the de facto S60 wagon for the U.S market.