Polestar Pinnacle: Volvo Launches Its Quickest Models Ever

by Steph Willems

Published: April 1st, 2016

polestar pinnacle volvo launches its quickest models ever

Volvo set a corporate high-water mark for speed today by launching two new Polestar models, each with enough power to make a tenured Vermont professor blush.

Dropping two cylinders while gaining 22 horsepower, the upgraded S60 and V60 Polestars are part of Volvo’s effort to boost the visibility of its performance division.

The 2.0-liter Drive-E four-cylinder in the S60 and V60 Polestar (replacing the previous blown straight six) was worked over by Polestar engineers to make 367 horsepower and 347 pounds-feet of torque. The mill, which makes 240 horsepower in T5 models, gains muscle from a supercharger, larger turbocharger and air intake, and a higher-capacity fuel pump.

Four-wheel drive and a sport-tuned eight-speed automatic round out the package, along with the upgraded brakes and suspension you’d expect.

Using typical Scandinavian understatement, Polestar Chief Operating Officer Niels Möller called the cars “properly quick.” In reality, they’re the fastest production Volvos ever, making the run to 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) in 4.7 seconds.

Volvo wants to flog the Polestar brand heavily in growing markets, and will be making the S60 and V60 Polestar in slightly larger numbers to back up that goal. At 1,500 units per year, it’s still a low-volume offering, but it’s better than the trickle that emerged after the first Polestar model went on sale in 2014.

Polestar Performance Parts recently became available on all Volvo models.

Volvo isn’t saying how many Polestars will be coming to North America, but there stands to be plenty of new buyers competing for those 1,500 units. As part of its growth strategy, Volvo will make Polestars available in 47 markets, up from 13.

Earlier this week, Volvo scored a PR coup when its V60 Polestar nabbed the safety car gig at future FIA World Touring Car Championship races.

[Images: Volvo Car Corporation]

#LimitedEdition #NewCars #Performance #Polestar #S60 #V60 #Volvo

Steph Willems

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11 of 28 comments

Hummer on Apr 01, 2016

Seems like a college design project, how far can we push this tiny hamster mill. Just give it a proper engine

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- Barksdale on Apr 02, 2016
  
  Blame the Swedish engineers who came up with the design for this (if you have to blame anyone by using nationality or ethnicity...). Polestar has been doing this type of thing for years. RIP Hummer (the brand, not the commenter). Now those were badly designed vehicles for non-combat zones -- dangerous lack of visibility, lack of standard safety features, and the ability to attract the most self-centered (read: dangerous) drivers into their showrooms. GM tried to sell Hummer to a Chinese company but couldn't even do that right.
  
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- Hummer on Apr 02, 2016
  
  @barksdale "Now those were badly designed vehicles for non-combat zones — dangerous lack of visibility, lack of standard safety features, and the ability to attract the most self-centered (read: dangerous) drivers into their showrooms. " Care to go into depth? I have better visibility than the majority of all vehicles leaving the showrooms today, getting back into my trucks are a breath of fresh air for being able to see. What lack of safety features? The H1 is known for its minimal damage in wrecks, the H2 was rated only behind the F350 as the safest vehicle on the road, and the H3 has all of the standard safety equipment that is used industry wide. If you would like to see a couple stereotypes about your vehicle, let's do a little show and tell, but I would hardly call us owners anything close to that description. Re: Volvo, or blame the Chinese owners that has allowed the automaker to use such convoluted methods to end up with a product worse by the numbers than a conventional setup. At least the Hummer brand died a dignified death without being weakened by poor product that was incompatible with the brand line.
  
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- Heavy handle on Apr 02, 2016
  
  Hummer, Swedes have a long experience building high-output turbo motors that last and last. I know lots of Saab owners with a quarter or a half million kilometers and no issues. Rumor is many Saab engineers went up the road to Volvo, and it's probably not a coincidence that Volvo is releasing state-of-the-art turbo motors five years after Saab tanked. I don't think there's an issue here. The real story is how badly GM and Ford messed-up when they owned those brands. Now they have nothing competitive in the premium market, while Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover are enjoying record sales and profits.
  
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- Maymar on Apr 02, 2016
  
  In their entire history, Volvo's offered just one engine over 4 liters (which they farmed out to Yamaha and no one bought), it's not who they are. Either slow, indestructible four cylinders, or smallish boosted engines are predominately Volvo's DNA. Lucky for them, the market kind of came in their direction. It's a shame they dropped the inline six, but for being a fairly unique selling point, it didn't really push them to success.
  
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- Hummer on Apr 02, 2016
  
  @Maymar The indestructible slow engines are pretty much how Volvo has went, why they want to go boi racer is the question, Saab treaded a very odd line that was never here nor there, and I just can't see Volvo adopting that and running with it. Maybe they can, but if they want to blaze a new trail for the company, they should try to race at the top of the league away from the bottom feeders.
  
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- Heavy handle on Apr 03, 2016
  
  Hummer, I don't think that anyone at Volvo is seriously considering following GM's Saab game plan! Give them a little credit, all the evidence so far shows that Chinese or Indian ownership is a lot more beneficial than GM/Ford ownership. I would have thought this would have occurred to you already, given your screen name.
  
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- JimZ on Apr 03, 2016
  
  @heavy handle Saab was always doomed, GM just delayed the inevitable by about 10 years.
  
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- Speedlaw on Apr 03, 2016
  
  @heavy handle Response to Jim Z; Saab died due to the 2008 banking lockup. Most SAABs were leases-when banks stopped lending, SAAB dealers died. One local dealer gave his stat to a local paper...they moved 25-30 units a month. 28 of them were on a lease. No lease=no sale. I had two of them, an OG 900T and a 9-3. I've mostly happy memories.
  
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- Heavy handle on Apr 04, 2016
  
  @heavy handle speedlaw, It's not even that complicated. Saab died because GM shut-down the factory and publicly wrote them off. They had their best sales year ever in 2006, again in 2007, and were doing great in early 2008. Everyone believed they were dead by the time they re-started production. GM then blocked the new owners from re-capitalizing the enterprise, probably because the 9-5 was a very serious threat to the Insigna in Europe (the Insigna was the only model keeping the lights on at Opel). Saying they were always doomed is absurd, like saying Audi was doomed in 1992, or Subaru was doomed in 1998. It's not a morality play, just business. History has shown that Saab's turbocharged 4 cylinder tech was the way to go, every successful premium brand has copied them since.
  
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Sfvarholy on Apr 01, 2016

Oh. It's most certainly NOT anything that Audi or BMW or Daimler-Benz would do. Not at all. ((rolls eyes)) Full disclosure: Volvo owner.

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