Production of Volvo Cars’ all-new XC60 mid-size SUV started this week at the company’s Torslanda plant in Sweden. The first customer-bound car, a T5 Inscription AWD in Crystal White, rolled off the production line just before lunch time on Wednesday 26 April.
The new car replaces Volvo’s highly-successful original XC60, which in the nine years since its launch became the best-selling premium mid-sized SUV in Europe with one million units sold globally. The XC60 today represents around 30 per cent of Volvo’s total global sales.
“This is a proud day for everyone at the plant,” says Magnus Nilsson, vice president of the Torslanda plant. “We have worked hard in recent weeks and months to prepare Torslanda for the latest new Volvo model, and now we are ready to start delivering new XC60s to customers.”
The all-new XC60 is the fourth model based on Volvo’s self-developed SPA platform, following the introduction of the top-of-the-line 90 cluster in recent years. The SPA-related investments in Sweden have had positive effects on employment at the company, as thousands of new jobs have been added in production, research & development and other areas.
New comfort and safety technology
The all-new XC60, one of the safest cars ever made, is fully-loaded with new technology. Steer Assist has been added to the ground-breaking City Safety system. A new safety system called Oncoming Lane Mitigation uses Steer Assist to help mitigate head-on collisions, while Volvo’s Blind Spot Indication System (BLIS) now uses Steer Assist functionality to reduce the risk of lane-changing collisions.
Pilot Assist, Volvo’s advanced semi-autonomous driver assistance system, which takes care of steering, acceleration and braking on well-marked roads up to 130 km/h, is available in the new XC60 as an option.
The new XC60 offers Volvo’s award-winning T8 Twin Engine petrol plug-in hybrid at the top of the powertrain range, delivering 300 kW and acceleration from 0-100 km/h in just 5.3 seconds.
But it is not just under the bonnet that the new XC60 delivers healthy performance. The new CleanZone four-zone climate system removes harmful pollutants and particles from outside the cabin to deliver Scandinavian-fresh air on the inside.
Volvo Cars’ driver infotainment and connected services offer, Sensus Connect, and the Volvo On Call app, both receive a graphical update with improved usability. As in the 90 cluster cars, smartphone integration with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is also available.
With the all-new XC60 now on the global market and gradually becoming available for order on markets across the globe, Volvo is set for another record year of sales in 2017.
The all-new Volvo XC60 will debut in South Africa in the second quarter of 2018.
