Volvo S60 T8 first to feature new Polestar Engineered upgrade programme

KUALA LUMPUR: Polestar Engineered is a new electrified performance upgrade programme that has been introduced under the collaboration of Volvo Cars and Polestar. The announcement has been made a week before the new Volvo S60 makes its global debut. This is not a coincidence, as the S60 T8 (Twin Engine versions) will be the first car to receive the benefits of the programme.

Speaking about the new programme, Hakan Samuelsson, president, and CEO at Volvo Cars, said, “Electric cars are our future. Today starts a new era of Volvo electrified models enhanced by Polestar’s performance engineering prowess. This strategy is firmly grounded in our shared belief in an electric future for the car industry.”

The Polestar Engineered programme enhances the performance of the car by tweaking certain elements like the wheels, brakes, suspension, and engine control unit. The brakes are upgraded to Brembo callipers with slotted discs along with high-performance pads. The suspension setup is beefed up with Ohlins shock absorbers with a dual-flow valve and a new strut bar. The subtle changes in the engine boost its power from 400 horsepower and 640 Nm of torque to 415 horsepower and 670 Nm. Even the 8-speed automatic gearbox has been tuned to keep up with the increased output figures.

Henrik Green, Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Volvo Cars, said, “The new S60 T8 Polestar Engineered is an electrified car that does what you want it to. All components have been fine-tuned to work together, delivering a responsive and exciting driver’s car.”

All the S60s that are empowered by the Polestar Engineered programme will have gold-painted brake callipers and seat belts, lightweight wheels, Polestar emblems and black chrome exhaust pipes. These treatments will not only make the S60 look cooler but also helps it to stand out from its stock counterpart. Volvo will position the S60s with Polestar Engineered programme above its R-Design versions. The programme will also be offered on the V60 and XC60 from next year.

The new Volvo S60 will be unveiled next week at the inauguration of Volvo’s first United States manufacturing plant in Charleston, South Carolina. This will be the only plant where the new S60 will be made. The S60 will also be the first Volvo car to be made in the United States. Volvo will also start producing its next-gen XC90 here.