Volvo Cars Begins Production of New XC60 on 90th Anniversary Date

Volvo Cars has commenced production of its new XC60 mid-size SUV three days ago in its plant in Gothenburg, Sweden.  

The reason why April 14 was chosen as the date to roll the new SUV out of the production was because it was the same date Volvo’s first ever car, the OV4, was produced 90 years ago.

While the first Volvo sold a total of 275 vehicles in its life time, which was modest even in those days, the new XC60 replaces one of the best-selling model in Volvo’s 90-year history.

First revealed at the 2017 Geneva International Motor Show, the new XC60 carries its predecessor’s mantle to push the boundaries of safety, this time being able to autonomously steer itself out of trouble.

Being built on a shortened version of the SPA platform that underpins the XC90, the new XC60 unsurprisingly offers the same range of 2.0-litre four-cylinder Drive-E engines that are actually already available in the outgoing model.

The range kicks off with two diesel and two petrol engines; the D4 and D5 oil-burners offer 190 and 235hp respectively, whilst the turbocharged T5 and twincharged T6 petrol variants ramp things up to 254 and 320hp respectively.

Topping the range off is the T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid variant with 407hp and capable of hitting 100 km/h from rest in 5.3 seconds. These numbers are preliminary, however, and Volvo has not disclosed either top speed or acceleration times for the lower models.

The current XC60 is Volvo’s best-selling vehicle, accounting for 30 percent of the company’s global sales. Whilst based on the Ford EUCD platform, the XC60 has been continuously improved by Volvo to the point where it now sports a completely different range of engines from its original launch configuration.