Don’t call the new XC60 a scaled-down Volvo XC90 in front of Volvo’s design chief Thomas Ingenlath, unless you want to cause great offence.
He’s honest enough to acknowledge that, with the current car selling at greater volumes each and every year for the past nine years, “there was no call for a revolution”, but he is also proud of the new car’s more dynamic, driver-focused appeal.
That appeal is best expressed by a look at the side profile, where you can really see the changes from the XC90: the more sharply angled windscreen line, the wheels pushed as close to the ends as they’ll go and the side profile curving in around the driver. The sculpting at the foot of the wraparound doors has the effect of absorbing mass and pulling the body into the centre of the car to give it a sportier, more dynamic presence than the more laid-back design of the XC90.
If you want a Volvo SUV with greater design differentiation, though, you won’t have long to wait: the XC40, the SUV family’s smallest, sportiest and cheekiest sibling, is likely to launch this autumn on Volvo’s new CMA platform.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Looks more like a mid-term face-lift.
Ignore the article,