Feann Torr•31 Oct 2013
NEWS
Volvo wants Golf R rival
Polestar shifts up a gear, with the new V60 wagon just the beginningVolvo Australia is pushing to get more high performance models developed, with a Volkswagen Golf R rival based on the V40 high on the agenda.
A go-for-broke V40 is a strong prospect for sale in Australia, given Volvo Australia's official entry in V8 Supercars next year and its cosy relationship with Polestar.
Volvo's performance and motorsport partner has only built one production car to date, the limited edition S60 Polestar, and it is sold exclusively in Australia priced at $109,950.
The pilot project was clearly deemed a success by Volvo's top brass, prompting a second model, a hi-po V60 Polestar wagon cranking out 257kW/500Nm. Spy photographers at Automedia recently spotted the wagon – expected to be sold globally, not just in Australia – while it was being tested at Germany's Nurburgring.
During the 2014 XC60 national launch, Volvo Australia's Managing Director Matt Braid talked about the potential for Polestar to expand, and responded positively when asked if a hard-charging V40 would work.
"I think that car certainly would work and that segment certainly would as well. That segment is well populated by performance iterations," he said.
Australians have an appetite for performance cars like few other countries, and this was one of the reasons the original S60 Polestar was litmus tested in this country.
"We were the pilot market for Polestar and we'd put our hand up for anything that came our way from those guys.
"We work well with them, we've got a good relationship with them. I think any product they offered in the range we could certainly utilise and do well with here," he said.
If Volvo did develop a hard-hitting version of its Golf-rivalling V40, it would most likely be powered by the company's T5 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine, which develops up to 177kW/320Nm. It could easily be tuned to develop more than 200kW/400Nm and with all-wheel drive a Volvo V40 Polestar would give the model a powerful halo effect – just as the A 45 AMG does for the Mercedes-Benz A-Class.
"One in four Golfs sold [in Australia] is a GTI or an R. That's unheard of. One in eight Mercedes-Benz C-Classes sold is a C 63 AMG. They're all big numbers no matter the brand, so performance models do have a very high percentage of mix compared to the base cars in Australia," Braid noted.
Asked which other Volvo models could be given the Polestar treatment in future, the Volvo boss said there's strong potential across the range.
"It's all possible. We've seen the V60 rattling around the Nurburgring as a Polestar exercise. It could go on multiple models," he said. "It might not happen at all, but it could be anything. It could be anything from V40 up to S60 and S80."
He said if the spy photos of the hard-charging 257kW/500Nm V60 wagon became a reality Volvo Australia would "jump at it".
"As far as priorities as to what would be next and what we'd put our hand up for next, that might be a little bit different around the world. But if the V60 was to come then we'd take it for sure," added the Volvo Australia boss.
Perhaps the only issue Volvo faces is one of convincing buyers that Polestar is a performance car brand, and not something else. In the past Volvo was seen as a pipe and slippers car maker and Braid admits that "initially" the name was misinterpreted.
"But I think, touch wood, from next year with Polestar racing [in the V8 Supercars championship] it'll be spelled out.
"Even if they do have a cheeky interpretation, that's not a bad thing," he said.
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Written byFeann Torr
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalists
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