Volvo S60 Polestar concept

Polestar, Volvo's partner of long standing in the tuning business, will deploy a concept car for display at the third round of the Swedish TTA race on June 16 — and it's expected to pack a punch.

"The performance concept road-car is a spin-off of our work evaluating and developing the S60 for racing," Polestar Marketing Director Hans Bååth was quoted as saying in a press release issued last week. "Whether there will be more cars built is an open question. First of all we want to get feedback on this first prototype."

Volvo switched from the C30 to the S60 for its WTCC campaign last year, and this new concept builds on the work that Polestar has undertaken to date, developing the S60 for the touring car category. It is not to be confused with the limited edition S60 R-Design Polestar models released in Australia recently.

Jan Andersson, the head of vehicle development at Polestar explained in the press release that Volvo's much vaunted safety makes the S60 an ideal candidate for motor racing.

"What we found was another very strong Volvo with great potential for motorsport applications and also an almost ideal platform for a road-going performance car. Volvo's engineers are known around the world for their achievements in car and traffic safety. What is less widely understood is that strong and safe cars also make great platforms for motorsport and performance."

Neither Polestar nor Volvo will issue pictures or reveal the vehicle's specifications prior to its unveiling at the Gothenburg venue less than a week from now, however the concept will feature more hardware from the road-going S60 than the very competition-focussed S60 TTA does.

"The car we present is yet another result of our close co-operation where Polestar's motorsport and performance experience is combined with Volvo's in-depth knowledge about the car and its technology," said Derek Crabb, Motorsport Director at Volvo Cars.