- Volvo has discontinued the V60 Polestar Engineered plug-in-hybrid station wagon in the United States.
- A Volvo spokesperson confirmed to Car and Driver that the decision was made as Volvo moved V60 production to its facility in Ghent, Belgium.
- Thankfully, this doesn’t mark the death of all Volvo wagons in our market, with Volvo confirming that the V60 Cross Country and V90 Cross Country will continue.
America’s misplaced lack of interest in the station wagon has struck again, this time taking out our favorite Scandinavian longroof: the Volvo V60 Polestar Engineered. Road & Track broke the news, reporting that Volvo’s consumer site reads, “The V60 Polestar Engineered plug-in hybrid is no longer available as a new vehicle in the US.”
As sad as we are about it, we don’t blame the automaker for the decision. The company sold fewer than 3500 wagons in the U.S. last year, after all. In a statement to Car and Driver, a spokesperson for Volvo confirmed that the change came as production of the V60 migrated to the automaker’s production facility in Ghent, Belgium.
Thankfully, the change doesn’t spell total destruction of Volvo’s North American wagon lineup. According to Volvo’s spokesperson, “Volvo Cars has decided to end production of the V60 Polestar Engineered model, focusing instead on the more popular Cross Country variant for the U.S. and Canada.” Well, beggars can’t be choosers.
The most recent version of the most athletic V60 paired a 312-hp turbo four with a 143-pony electric motor for the rear axle to produce a combined 455 horsepower and 523 pound-feet of torque. An impressive 44 miles of EV range in our testing sweetened the pot even more.
The surviving V60 Cross Country and V90 Cross Country feature less potent mills, with the former powered by a 247-hp turbocharged four-cylinder and the latter with 295 horsepower from a supercharged and turbocharged four-cylinder with a 48-volt hybrid system.
We just hope Americans can come to their senses in time to save the few remaining station wagons before the entire segment goes extinct.
Jack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1.
After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf.
Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
