Volvo choosing between Polestar V40 and XC60

High-performance V40 or XC60? That’s the choice being debated by Volvo and its tuning partner Polestar, which will trade its 257kW turbo-six for four-cylinder power.

While there have been media reports that a V40 hot hatch to rival the Mercedes-Benz A 45 AMG has already been signed off, Volvo’s global powetrain and motorsport boss Derek Crabb told motoring.com.au that isn’t the case.

Instead, Volvo is deciding whether the V40 or its XC60 mid-size SUV will form the basis of the next Polestar-tuned high-performance road model to join the turbo-petrol all-wheel drive S60 sedan and V60 estate.

“If you ask each of the individual markets what (Polestar) they want, some will say V40, some will say XC60, some will say S60,” Crabb told motoring.com au at the V8 Supercars round at Queensland Raceway last weekend.

“I don’t think we can do that industrially and I don’t think we can do it commercially, so we are trying to rationalise that down.

“The S60 is the common factor; the question is do we do an XC60 or do we do a V40.”

Crabb didn’t put a timeline on the decision making process, but given Volvo has ambitious plans for Polestar sales, a call one way or the other will be made soon.

Crabb revealed Volvo is expecting 750 sales of the S60 and V60 Polestar in 2014 from of the handful of markets the cars are marketed in, but wants that to climb to 1250 per annum within a couple of years.

Whichever way it goes, Crabb made it clear future Polestars would be powered by a more highly tuned new-generation Drive-E four-cylinder engine than has currently been unveiled.

“There is inevitability about that, because we have built the Polestar brand to sell a special type of vehicle -- a performance-oriented vehicle, a lower-volume package that’s currently running on a six-cylinder engine but that will have to be replaced by a four-cylinder engine,” Crabb said.

In production Volvos with the Drive-E engine on sale now, the highest output is the 225kW supercharged and turbocharged T6 engine, but a 238kW version is part of the T8 plug-in hybrid drivetrain already previewed for next year’s XC90.

But neither of those engines’ power claims matches the 242kW output of the T6 (yes, same name) 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder found in the S60 T6-R, let alone the 257kW version in the S60 Polestar, which first went on sale in Australia in 2013.

Crabb was clear that the four-cylinder Drive-E engine, which is scheduled to be fitted to the S60/V60 Polestar in 2016, would not be a backward step in terms of power.

“A customer buying a 350hp (260kW) six-cylinder today isn’t going to go down to a 320hp (240kW) four,” Crabb said. “He is going to want 350hp or whatever out of a four-cylinder. So there is going to be a high-performance Polestar (four-cylinder) engine.”

The S60 and V60 Polestars will be the last Volvo models to adopt Drive-E engines in 2016, but Crabb said they would not be allied with Volvo’s hybrid all-wheel drive system, which drives the rear axle via an electric motor.

Instead, the Polestar will retain the orthodox Haldex mechanical all-wheel drive.

The e-motor hybrid all-wheel drive system will be likely for Polestar after the S60 transitions to the new Volvo-developed SPA architecture for 2017.

Meanwhile, the mainstream Volvo range will complete the transition into Drive-E engines out of existing four-, five- and six-cylinder engines in 2015.

Some S60, V60 and XC60 models already sold in Australia employ Drive-E petrol and diesel engines, with the V40 also joining the club before the end of the year.

The 2015 S60 Polestar goes on sale here late in 2014 and will be joined by the V60 Polestar for the first time. Pricing is likely to stay around the $99,950 mark.