The comprehensive overhauling of the Volvo range is continuing apace, with the latest new model to break cover being a brand new version of the V60 estate. The V60 is the second of Volvo's 60 models to get redesigned after the XC60, so only the S60 sedan is left of the trio awaiting the new treatment.
Like a number of motor manufacturers at the moment, Volvo is looking to reposition itself in the market as a more premium brand than it's been perceived as in the past. As a result, the new V60 is designed to compete directly with the BMW 3 Series Touring and the Audi A4 Avant, rather than the likes of the estate (or wagon) versions of the Ford Mondeo and Opel Insignia.
This new V60 replaces the current model that's now some seven years old, and it sits on the company's Scalable Platform Architecture (SPA) that it shares with the XC60 SUV and its larger sibling, the V90 estate. As is the way with Volvos today, the new V60 will offer a wide range of four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, but electrification has a big part to play under the hood of the new V60 too.
Although other models in the Volvo family that are based on the SPA platform feature a single plug-in hybrid powertrain, there will be two hybrid options in the V60 lineup. One of them will be a T6 Twin Engine badged version, featuring a turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine coupled with an electric motor to produce 335 bhp, while the other will be the more familiar and powerful T8 system with an impressive 385 bhp.
The design of the interior and exterior of the new V60 isn't exactly surprising, and really does follow on in a very similar vein to other recently updated models in the Volvo family. The exterior is a lot like a shrunken version of the V90 estate, but although there are a lot of similarities between the V60 and V90, there are also areas where the V60 obviously takes some of its design inspiration from the XC60.
Photos: courtesy of Volvo