Volvo S60 Polestar on the way

The souped-up Volvo S60 is the result of a 12-month intensive development program between Volvo Australia and the company’s global motorsport and performance partner, Polestar.  

Just 50 cars will be built, with the first batch arriving in late June. The all-wheel drive cars will be capable of a 4.9-second blast to 100km/h … and will be priced to match. Volvo Australia hasn’t confirmed prices - managing director Matt Braid was still finalising details this week on everything from the braking package to the seat bolstering and upholstery - but Carsguide believes the car will cost around $115,000.

That will buy a Volvo S60 R Design car with major suspension and drivetrain upgrades from Polestar to transform the already capable sedan into a seriously quick car. It’s not going to challenge the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG or BMW M3 for outright grunt but Polestar director Hans Baath says that wasn’t the intent.

“It’s not our aim to be AMG,” he says. “This is more of a driver’s car than a performance car because that (performance) is based so heavily on engine output. So it’s not just a track car … it is something you should be able to drive every day in all conditions.”

It is also the first car Polestar has developed for Volvo and Baath says the Aussie experience will determine whether the S60 Polestar is sold in other markets and whether Polestar will then turn its attention to other vehicles in the Swedish carmaker’s range. Polestar project manager Henrik Fries says the S60 is more than the sum of its parts.

“Everything that moves, we changed,” he notes. “This is a car with much more handling and agility … we have built a car that people will enjoy driving.”

Changes include Ohlins suspension with adjustable rebound and compression damping, upgrades to the six-speed automatic transmission software, a bigger turbo on the six-cylinder engine, ECU tweaks to cope with the 257kW/500Nm outputs and upgrades to the Haldex all-wheel drive system biased for rear-wheel drive.