COVER Volvo S60 revealed

● Sporty saloon gets petrol and PHEV range; raft of tech

Covers are peeled off striking, sporty new 3 Series rival

VOLVO has revealed its all-new BMW 3 Series rival ahead of the saloon landing in the UK early next year.

But the S60 won’t have it easy; when it arrives it’ll line up against an all-new 3 Series, not to mention Mercedes’ revised C-class, Audi’s A4 and Jaguar’s XE.

Volvo’s president and CEO Håkan Samuelsson calls the S60 “one of the most exciting Volvo cars we’ve ever made” and “a true driver’s car”. Big claims. It’ll be produced at an all-new plant in the US in Charleston, South Carolina with a clear leaning to the big and lucrative US and Chinese markets.

That, in part, explains why it takes a different approach to its rivals, eschewing diesel power in favour of four 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engines; two of which add supercharging, all-wheel drive and plug-in hybrid power.

Buyers will be able to choose from 188bhp T4 and 247bhp T5 models, plus plug-in T6 and T8 versions with 336bhp and 395bhp respectively. If you want more power you can have your T8 uprated by Volvo’s Polestar performance arm (see panel, opposite).

The S60 is the saloon version of the V60 estate (driven on Page 31), which arrives in UK showrooms next month, and sits on the same Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) that also underpins the XC60, plus XC, S and V90 models.

However, where the V60 impressed on its first drive for its more comfort-orientated approach than rivals, Volvo top brass continually refer to the new saloon with phrases like “engaged performance” and “excellent control”, hinting at the S60’s sportier pretensions.

In spite of that, this is still a Volvo, and the SPA platform brings innovative safety features such as an autobrake system that spots pedestrians, cyclists and large animals. It’ll also get Run-off Road Mitigation and Oncoming Lane Mitigation, while Cross Traffic Alert with autobrake will be on the options list.

In addition, you’ll be able to specify Volvo’s Pilot Assist Level 2 semiautonomous driving tech that will steer, accelerate and brake the car at speeds of up to 80mph. The now-familiar nine-inch portrait touchscreen system, with optional Android Auto and Apple Carplay, will also be available.

Our first look around the car at the unveiling at the new factory in the US unsurprisingly revealed many of the traits we discovered in the new V60. It’s a striking four-door with a well-built cabin, while there’s better-than-average space in the back and a decent 442-litre boot.

Samuelsson told us he thinks some younger buyers are beginning to turn away from SUVS and back to sexy saloons – and he hopes the S60 fills that brief.

But if you want an S60, you’re going to have to wait – US and Chinese buyers will get first dibs, with UK cars unlikely to arrive before May 2019. That means confirmed prices are some way off, too, although with a V60 T4 starting at £31,810, we’d expect the S60 to cost from around £30,000.

“CEO Samuelsson thinks young buyers are turning away from SUVS and back to sexy saloons”