New Volvo XC60 looks even more convincing on Volvo’s stand in Geneva

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The newly revealed 2017 (or 2018) Volvo XC60 looks even more convincing on the floor in Geneva, and it’s clearly much more than a smaller XC90.

It’s just a few days since the new Volvo XC60 – a 2017 XC60 or 2018 XC60 depending on when it arrives in individual markets – was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show.

Based on the same platform as the new XC90, it would be easy to consider the XC60 just a smaller version of the XC90, offering much of the same Scandinavian goodness in a smaller package. But it’s clearly much more than that.

On the floor in Geneva it’s easy to see that the XC60, despite being strongly influenced by all that’s good about the XC90, is really surprisingly individual and not at all a Russian Doll model of its bigger sibling.

Where the XC90 is rather upright and boxy, the XC90 manages to be much more dynamic looking, with the deep creases on its flanks giving it movement, and the lower roofline adding to the feeling of dynamism.

At the front, the grille shape is more defined on the XC60, the air intakes look greedier and the lines up the bonnet seem somehow more flowing, accentuating what seems to be a longer bonnet.

Round the back there’s a similar line to the tailgate’s window, but the trademark Volvo lights extend in to the tail gate rather than sitting on the rear wings. It’s clear the XC60 is the ‘Sport’ to the XC90’s Full Fat.

Inside is closer to the XC90 than the exterior, with the same delicious leather and woods and Sensus tablet screen, but the proportions are a bit more human (some do find the XC90 a bit cavernous) and the occupants embraced rather than cosseted.

Frankly, the current XC60, despite being almost a decade old, it is still the best-selling premium mid-sized SUV in Europe, accounting for 30 per cent of Volvo’s sales, and has sold a million units.

Trouncing cars like the BMW X3 and Audi Q5 in the sales charts already, the Germans must be wondering what on earth is going to happen to their sales once the new XC60 hits Volvo’s showrooms in the summer.

It’s going to go down a storm.