Volvo Auto India has launched the go-fast version of the S60, the S60 Polestar, in the country at an introductory price of Rs 52.5 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). For the uninitiated, Polestar has a motorsport history with Volvo cars and it all began in 1996. Polestar later started offering performance upgrades for the Swedish brand’s cars. Ultimately in July 2015, Volvo acquired Polestar and the latter is currently Volvo’s performance division.
The S60 became the first ever production road car built by Polestar for Volvo worldwide. It first went on to sale in late 2013, before the acquisition happened and was updated when Volvo acquired Polestar in 2015 with the styling of the mid-cycle updated model of the S60. Between the years 2014 and 2015, Polestar built 1500 examples of the S60 series, which were sold in limited markets. It was powered by a 6-cylinder, 3.0-litre, turbocharged petrol engine, rated at 350PS/500Nm and was mated to a 6-speed automatic in a 4WD layout.
Now, the car that Volvo is bringing to India was revealed in April 2016 as an updated 2017 model year Volvo S60 Polestar. It replaced the old 3.0-litre 6-cylinder unit for a new 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, twin-charged (turbo and supercharged) petrol engine from Volvo’s Drive-E engine series. This engine puts out 367PS of max power and 470Nm of peak torque and sprints from 0 to 100kmph sprint in 4.7 seconds (0.1 seconds quicker than the previous limited-run version). The top speed is electronically limited to 250kmph.
With the new downsized, 4-cylinder engine, the 2017 S60 Polestar is 24kg lighter over the front axle and 20kg lighter in total compared to the previous model. Over the stock 2.0-litre T6 Drive-E engine, the Polestar version gets a bigger turbo, new conrods, new camshafts, a larger air intake and a higher capacity fuel pump.
The S60 Polestar goes up against the Mercedes-AMG C 43 and Audi S5 in the country. With the launch of the S60 Polestar, Volvo Auto India is likely to introduce more Polestar versions of its cars in future, including the most powerful Volvo ever – the XC90 T8 Twin Engine Polestar.
