Volvo’s R-Design for the better part of the past five years has been nothing but sporty cosmetic upgrades to models such as the S60. If you were looking for any added sort of performance like the previous S60 R had, you were plain out of luck. Then one day Volvo listened. They made the S60 R-Design more than just a looker, it now has the goods to walk the talk. If you check off the R-Design package for the 2011 S60, you’ll get 325 horsepower and 354 pound feet of torque over the S60 T6’s standard 300 horsepower and 320 pound foot torque.
Well apparently we can all thank tuning company Polestar for the added performance boost. If you don’t remember, Polestar were the ones that took a stock C30 T5 and turned it into a “junior Nissan GT-R”. High praise indeed. In fact, Jeremy Clarkson is also quite fond of Polestar’s creation. So, it seems Polestar definitely caught Volvo’s attention when they were getting such rave reviews and so Volvo enlisted them for the S60 R-Design.
So what does that mean? Will Polestar be to Volvo what AMG is to Mercedes-Benz or M is to BMW? It’s tough to say. Volvo has yet to comment on that, but I think it would be a very smart move if Volvo truly wishes to be mentioned in the same breath as those German heavyweights. I would snatch a C30 Polestar up in a second were it available for sale to the public.
Something to seriously think about, Volvo.
[Swedespeed.com]
