Volvo India Limited seem to have woken up and smelled the coffee. With their Volvo XC60 SUV raking in unusual numbers, the company is all set to go ahead with their plan of launching the Volvo S60 sedan in India. The date decided is not in the near future but just some days away. The date is March 10th 2011.
This car, which is primarily a BMW 3 series, Audi A4 and Mercedes C class competitor would be priced at par with them inspite of been a CBU unit. There would two engines for starters. One diesel and one petrol. A 6 speed automatic transmission would be standard fare on both the models. The petrol motor is a twin turbo petrol, a first in its class. Dubbed as the T6 twin-turbo petrol, it is expected to make 304 Bhp of peak power at 5600 rpm whereas the 437 Nm of torque is available from as low as 2100 rpm. It is expected to be the fastest in its segments with claimed figures of 6.4 seconds for the 0-100 kph dash whereas its top speed is limited to 250 kph. Its diesel counterpart on the other hand is a familiar unit with it doing duties in about 3 Volvo cars in India. It is the D5 diesel engine displacing 2.4 liters and having twin turbos for company. It brings in 205 Bhp of peak power at 4000 rpm and good 412 Nm of torque from as low as 1500 rpm to the equation. A claimed timing of 7.6 seconds for the 0-100 kmph run and electronically restricted top speed of 230 kph ensure that this vehicle doesn’t lag behind the others in its class.
World class safety features and 4 wheel drive coupled with BS 4 norms would ensure that both the S60 twins would deliver good fuel economy along with the so called performance. Internationally many luxuries are available as standard and it remains to be seen how many Volvo would bring into the Indian spec cars. Prices would start from Rs 30 lakhs onwards and this too for the diesel variant. The petrol for all its performance would be placed above the Rs 34 lakhs mark. All these prices are just a guess and it remains to be seen how Volvo India would price this car.