Volvo gave its bread-and-butter S60 sedan a major update for 2014 already, what with visual updates the classed up the car’s headlights and the introduction of the small- but powerful!- Volvo Drive E engines. One thing we didn’t get for 2014, however, was a gas-electric hybrid … but Volvo is set to fill that gap in its product line with the car you see here: the new-for-2015 Volvo S60 Hybrid.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re reading this and saying, “Hey- Volvo already makes a hybrid, they just don’t sell it in the US.” The problem is that you’re only kinda right.
Volvo does, in fact, offer a plug-in hybrid version of its S60-based V60 wagon. That product is a huge seller in Europe, but it’s not a gasoline-electric hybrid- it’s a diesel. And, if you’re an OEM, you believe that diesel cars don’t sell in the US and, crucially, China. The Volvo S60 Hybrid shown here, then, isn’t a Europe-only diesel. It’s a 302 HP gas-fueled hybrid that will be old in China and, if all goes well, in the US by 2015.
The all-wheel-drive hybrid setup that Volvo is revealing in Beijing next week is similar in concept to the one shown last year in the company’s XC60 Hybrid Concept, with an internal-combustion engine powering the front wheels while an electric drive unit powers the rear. The setup allowed for serious acceleration in the heavier XC60 (0-60 in 5.8 seconds), and fits under the S60 well enough that Volvo included a picture of its new hybrid’s flat trunk …
… which is a trick that, somehow, eluded Volvo’s former masters at Ford.
The 2015 Volvo S60 Hybrid is claimed to get fuel economy in the 2.0 liters/100 km range (115-ish MPGe). When you combine that with exhilarating acceleration,Apple’s new CarPlay, and Volvo’s industry-leading safety, and you gotta think Volvo has built themselves a winner.
Source | Photos: Volvo
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