New Volvo XC90 POLESTAR planned

The new Volvo XC90 SUV won’t start arriving on UK roads until summer 2015, and it looks like there are plans to offer a Polestar performance version.

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The new Volvo XC90 does seem to have blended the best of the ‘old’ XC90 with the best of modern technology in an SUV that looks as innovative as the old XC90 was when it arrived 12 year ago.

On the face of it, the idea that a big car like the XC90 could only have the option of a 2.0 litre diesel or 2.0 litre petrol engine – thanks to Volvo’s new range of 2.0 litre Drive-E engines – looked like Volvo had no interest in appealing to the keen driver, but recent news has indicated otherwise.

Not only will Volvo be offering an XC90 T8 with a hybrid setup offering almost 400bhp, they have also recently previewed a 444bhp version  of the 2.0 litre Drive-E engine which looks like it will offer real V8 power from a 4-cylinder triple-turbo powerplant.

Now, speaking to Drive, Polestar boss Christian Dahl has revealed that Polestar plan to develop a Polestar performance XC60 as a first step in to performance SUVs and follow that up with a Polestar version of the new XC90.

That could mean a new XC90 with the potential for something up to 500bhp and performance that would make even cars like the Range Rover Sport and Porsche Cayenne sit up and take notice. It’s an intriguing possibility.

But the bread and butter XC90s will still be running much lower-powered versions of the Drive-E engines, but even that should make them a decent drive if our recent experience with the new D4 Drive-E engine in the S60 is anything to go by.

But a performance Polestar version of the new XC90 as a halo model isn’t going to do sales of the less powerful XC90s any harm at all.