Wraps off Volvo S60

These are the first official pictures of the all-new Volvo S60 due to be presented in full production guise at the Geneva motor show in March 2010. This is prior to rolling out of the company's plant in Ghent, Belgium, in the European summer.

Volvo Car Corporation issued these two photos of the new car following a pre-production "Concept" model that was shown at January's North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit this year.

The production S60, although it doesn't get the suicide rear doors or cartoon wheels of the Concept, otherwise comes close to being a virtual dead-ringer, from the fastback coupe-style profile to the grille and headlights. Only the centre and outboard air ducts -- which are larger and less restrained in the Concept -- show any great degree of difference.

This means the new S60 joins the four-door coupe genre well exploited by the likes of Mercedes CLS and Volkswagen Passat CC. In fact, some might even argue that the original S60 -- launched in Australia, incredibly, as long ago as 2001 -- just about introduced the concept with its relatively low-slung, sloping roofline.

Volvo's latest material doesn't say much about the new S60's underpinnings except to mention it will be available with what Volvo claims is a world-first -- the "Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake and Pedestrian Detection" system that activates if the driver has failed to notice a pedestrian stepping into the path of the vehicle.

The next stage of Volvo's City Safety auto-braking collision avoidance system that is standard in the XC60 SUV is also expected to make an appearance in the S60.

In Detroit, the Concept was fitted with a new, 134kW 1.6-litre petrol engine using super-efficient Gasoline Turbocharged Direct Injection (GTDi) technology giving a claimed average consumption of 5.0L/100km along with 119g/km CO2 emissions. Volvo has not divulged when or if that powerplant will make it into production S60s.

And we already know, the new S60 stems from the Volvo P24 platform underpinning both the V70/XC70 and XC60 models. This indicates a real possibility of an all-wheel drive version to supplement a base front-drive model.

Inside, expect the S60 to feature a version of Volvo's "floating" centre console along with the usual Scandinavian take on how a car interior should be presented.

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