All-new Volvo S60 sedan revealed

Volvo has unveiled its all-new S60 sedan to take the battle to BMW's 3 Series and the Audi A4.

Unveiled at a VIP event late last night at its equally new factory in South Carolina in the US, the 2019 Volvo S60 medium sedan was touted by the Swedish car-maker's execs as a "true driver's car".

Based on Volvo's Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), the S60 sedan shares much with the new V60 wagon, which arrives in Australia late this year.

Expected to arrive Down Under in early 2019, the S60 will be the first Volvo in recent history to be unavailable with a diesel engine.

Instead, four petrol engines will be offered, including two plug-in hybrids.

Both combine the car-maker's turbocharged and supercharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with an electric motor driving the rear wheels.

Combined, the new T6 Twin Engine produces 250kW, while the more powerful T8 Twin Engine delivers a more muscular 294kW.

As previously announced, the Volvo's high-performance division and standalone brand, Polestar, has confirmed it has developed an even more powerful 'Polestar Engineered' version of the S60 that bumps the T8 power to 305kW.

Thanks to the tweaks that include an ECU upgrade, lighter wheels, stiffer suspension and bigger brakes, the Polestar Engineered version should not only be better to drive but seriously quick.

Against the clock the T8 Polestar Engineered S60 can hit 100km/h in just 4.7 seconds – 0.2 sec quicker than the standard T8. Top speed for both models is limited to 250km/h.

As well as the hybrids there will also be a 183kW 2.0-litre T5 version that can still hit 100km/h in 6.5 seconds but averages 7.2L/100km, plus an all-wheel drive T6.

The latter makes do with just the twin-charged 2.0-litre without the hybrid gubbins.

Able to reach 228km/h, the fast T6 is expected to be a rival for the Audi S4 with a 0-100km/h time of around five seconds.

The new S60 measures in at 4761mm long, 2040mm wide and 1431mm high, tips the scales from 1680kg and has 442 litres of luggage space.

Featuring double-wishbone front suspension and an integral-link axle at the rear, Volvo suggests the S60 will come with class-leading handling.

Like the S90 and V90, which are also based on the SPA architecture, the S60 will be equipped with driver aids like semi-autonomous cruise control.

Pricing has yet to be announced but the S60 will be one of the first Volvos available via the car-maker's new 'Care by Volvo' subscription service that gives customers access to its cars for a monthly service.

The new S60 will be built at Volvo's all-new $A1.4 billion US manufacturing facility in Charleston, South Carolina, which is set to build 150,000 cars annually.