Volvo S60 Polestar Concept heading for LA

Volvo’s hot S60 – the S60 Polestar Concept – is heading for the Los Angels Auto Show this month. Does that mean it’s going in to production?

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No, this isn’t the regular Volvo S60 Polestar (which we reviewed recently in estate guise) but Volvo’s properly hot S60 Polestar Concept – revealed back in June – with a thumping great turbo and an extra 200bhp, that’s heading for the Los Angeles Auto Show.

So why are Volvo taking their potentially BMW M3 (even M5) bashing hot saloon car to the US? Could it be just to give the Volvo image in the US a bit of a fillip after a recent culling of the Volvo range in the States, or is it a precursor to a proper production version of the S60 Polestar?

We tend towards the latter conclusion as Volvo moves inexorably upmarket and in to territory traditionally dominated by the Germans, a performance saloon that has the measure – and more – of the Mercedes AMG and BMW M cars must be a sensible move, although any production S60 Polestar won’t be quite as fierce as the concept.

The S60 Polestar Concept get a great big turbo to push its power up to 506bhp and torque to a useful 424lb/ft of torque. All that extra power needs a widened chassis, better brakes, 4WD and new dampers to keep it in check – all of which could be offered on a production S60 Polestar.

But one huge turbo the size of a wheelie bin will probably make the S60 a bit unwieldy  even if it offer stunning performance of 3.9 seconds to 62mph. So the chances are Volvo will have to come up with a twin-turbo version for a production version of the S60 Polestar to make it more manageable, although still very swift.

An appealing prospect.

Volv0 S60 Polestar Concept Photos >>