Sub-$100k pricing for re-aligned Volvo S60 Polestar

VOLVO Cars Australia has slashed $10,000 from the starting price of its S60 Polestar performance sedan in response to arch-nemesis Audi cutting an ever larger sum from its rival S4 last month.

The price cut brings the Volvo’s list price a shade below the psychological $100,000 barrier, with the starting price now listed as $99,950 before on-road costs.

This figure once again makes the 257kW/500Nm six-pot Volvo cheaper than the 245kW/440Nm S4 sedan, which was last month reduced by $14,500 to a new figure of $105,000.

According to Volvo Cars Australia managing director Matt Braid, the price cut comes in response to “recent adjustments made elsewhere”, clearly indicating the company felt it would be best served not selling its wares at a premium above Audi.

Volvo will no doubt be hoping the price cut will stir up more interest in its hottest model and allow it to better capitalise on the strong publicity it is gathering from a stellar first season in the V8 Supercars race series this year, punctuated by a win at Barbagallo raceway in Perth last weekend.

Mr Braid said the strong performance in the touring car series this year, thanks largely to pacey young-gun Scott McLaughlin, was already driving increased interest in the S60 line.

“Interest in the S60 nameplate has increased significantly since the start of our V8 Supercars Championship program, and as Polestar’s test market we are delighted to be at the forefront of Polestar’s global development in motorsport and high-performance road cars,” he said.

“We are fully committed to the S60 Polestar and said at the very start of this journey that we would listen carefully to feedback in order to make this car a success and capitalise on our V8 Supercars program.” Registrations of the S60, including entry petrol and diesel variants, are up 62.5 per cent this year to 234 units, though it has a long way to go to catch the Mercedes-Benz C-Class (1613), BMW 3 Series (1278), Lexus IS (931) and Audi A4 (917).

The price cut applies to the updated S60 Polestar that launched here in March, bringing features such as paddle shifters behind the steering wheel for the six-speed auto, beefier Brembo brakes featuring six-pot front calipers wrapped around 370mm floating discs, and new seats.

“We believe this realignment, combined with the improvements of the next-generation car (referring to the vehicle launched in March), make the Volvo S60 Polestar a truly viable alternative in the high-performance, luxury sedan segment,” said Mr Braid.

In conjunction with launch control and the “Polestar-optimised” Haldex AWD system, the S60 Polestar will apparently accelerate from standstill to 100km/h in 4.9 seconds on to a limited top speed of 250km/h.

Chassis upgrades include modifications to increase rigidity, with 80 percent stiffer springs relative to a standard S60 T6 R-Design. There are also high-performance adjustable Öhlins shock absorbers and 19-inch Polestar graphite alloy wheels and improved aerodynamics through new front splitters, a new rear spoiler and a rear diffuser.

Other standard equipment includes a leather illuminated gearshift, perforated leather three-spoke multi-function sport steering wheel, a Sensus Connect Premium Sound Multimedia system with 10 speakers and a Dolby Pro Logic II Surround Sound system, Bluetooth and audio-streaming, a seven-inch colour display and voice-activated Sensus navigation system.

There are also Bi-Xenon Active Bending Lights with active high beam and LED daytime running lights, a rear parking camera with front and rear parking sensors, keyless entry and drive and a TFT crystal display.

Being Volvo, there is a long list of safety equipment including radar-guided cruise control, a collision warning system, Queue Assist, Pedestrian & Cyclist Detection, low-speed autonomous braking and a road sign recognition system.

As we reported at the pre-facelift car’s initial launch here in June 2013, Volvo’s global tuning arm Polestar used the performance-mad Australian market as a global testing ground ahead of the wider rollout of more hotted-up models.

Series-production sedan and V60 wagon versions were subsequently revealed overseas in November last year, though details on any Australian launch remain unclear.

2014 Volvo S60 pricing*

T4 Kinetic (a)	$49,990
T4 Luxury (a)	$54,990
D4 Kinetic (a)	$55,990
T5 Luxury (a)	$58,990
D4 Luxury (a)	$60,990
T5 R-Design (a)	$62,990
T6 AWD R-Design (a)	$75,990
T6 AWD Polestar (a)	$99,950

*Excludes on-road costs.