Polestar Powertrain Optimization Delivers Up to 421hp in the New Volvo XC60
RICHMOND HILL, ON. (July 11th, 2016.) Polestar, the performance brand of Volvo Cars, has introduced the latest generation powertrain optimization for the new Volvo XC60. With the Polestar enhancement, the new Volvo XC60 T8 delivers 421 horsepower, matching the optimized XC90 T8 as the most powerful Volvo models ever built.
Experience from more than two decades on the track with Cyan Racing, the motorsport partner of Polestar, has transformed the engine performance, throttle response, off-throttle response, gearshift speed and hold, taking the XC60 to a new level of driving pleasure.
”Our goal is to create usable performance in everyday driving situations for Volvo owners who want an enhanced driving experience,” said Henrik Fries, Vice President, Research and Development at Polestar. “The new XC60 has provided us with an excellent base to work on with a dynamic chassis and a state of the art powertrain. With the Polestar optimisation, it makes the new Volvo XC60 a true drivers’ car.”
Two key features of the optimization are the improved engine performance and gearbox functionality.
The enhancements for the engine are made to provide greater power and torque in the mid-range of the engine, the area most often used in everyday-driving, for example when joining a highway, overtaking or exiting a corner.
The gearbox shifts faster, gearshift points have been calibrated to utilise the optimised mid-range engine performance, and the gear-hold function maintains the same gear when cornering with high lateral g-force in order to avoid unsettling the balance of the car.
About Volvo Car Canada
Volvo Car Canada Ltd. is a subsidiary of Volvo Car Group of Gothenburg, Sweden. VCCL provides marketing, sales, parts, service, technology and training support to the 36 Volvo automobile retailers across Canada. For more information please refer to the Volvo Car Canada media website at: https://www.media.volvocars.com/ca/en-ca
About Polestar
Polestar is Volvo Car Group’s performance road car brand and was founded by Polestar Racing, today known as Cyan Racing. Polestar’s birth was a result of Cyan Racing’s race engineers desire to explore how technology behind the multiple title-winning success in racing could be applied to the performance of road going Volvo cars, on all roads and conditions in everyday life. The first road-going performance Concepts were launched in 2010 and the first performance cars, based on the Volvo S60, were ready in 2012. In 2015, Volvo Cars acquired Polestar Performance. Today, Polestar builds the S60 and V60 Polestar, 367 hp performance road cars with over 250 developments over-and-above the standard Volvo products. It also offers Polestar Engineered performance hardware upgrades and engine software optimisations for existing Volvo products.
In the future, Polestar will become a new separately-branded electrified high-performance car company. Polestar will offer a portfolio of bespoke Polestar branded cars that will no longer carry a Volvo logo. Polestar will enjoy specific technological and engineering synergies with Volvo Cars and benefit from significant economies of scale as a result of its connection to Volvo. These synergies will allow it to design, develop and build world beating electrified high performance cars.