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Global CEO Stefan Jacoby says the smaller, smarter engines are the only sensible way to go.
The T6 engine in the Volvo S60 Performance Project will be among the last of its kind.
Final drinks are being called for the thirsty six- and eight-cylinder engines in the Swedish carmaker's line-up.
Volvo says its future lies in more efficient four-three-and even two-cylinder units, with power levels raised by technology such as turbocharging, supercharging and the addition of electric motors.
Global CEO Stefan Jacoby says the smaller, smarter engines are the only sensible way to go.
"This is a logical step. You only engineer logically for four cylinders," he says. "We can with a modern top-of-the-class engine technology get the same performance as a high-performance six-cylinder engine."
"The technology available brings you the same fun to drive as with the classical six or eight cylinders," he says. "The time of (six and eight) cylinders are over. It goes into the direction of four cylinders. Three cylinders or even two cylinders. Which are powered by turbochargers and twin-chargers and compressors and all these things."
The four-cylinder wave will come in with the arrival of a modular platform strategy, called Scalable Platform Architecture, which can be adapted for vehicles across the entire range.
Some aspects of the SPA platform will be seen in the extended C30 architecture used for the new V40 that will arrive next year to start edging out the S40 and V50, but the first vehicle to be fully based on the new development will be the 2014 replacement for the aging XC90 SUV.
