The Goodwood Festival of Speed is the venue of choice for Volvo to give the public the very first chance to take their ultra-efficient V60 plug-in hybrid for a spin.
The figures seem promising, as the car features Volvo’s familiar 2.5-liter five-pot diesel engine, tuned to 215 hp and 440 Nm (324 lb-ft), driving the front wheels. Aiding the diesel is a 70 hp / 200 Nm (147 lb-ft) electric motor which drives the rear wheels, giving the car a setup which is similar to that of the Citroen DS5h we recently test drove. However, with a combined figure 285 hp and 640 Nm (472 lb-ft) and a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) time of 6.2 seconds, it will be considerably quicker than the Citroen.
Aside from the excellent performance (on paper, at least), the clever hybrid system has enabled the car to achieve an unbelievably low combined fuel consumption figure of 1.9 l/100km (which will be virtually impossible to match ‘in the real world’), while only emitting 49 g/km of CO2. Following Goodowood, Volvo will launch a limited run of 1,000 units, which will go on sale in November at a full price of around €59,000 ($73,800) with no deductions.
When the car goes into production, Volvo expect to sell somewhere in the region of between 4,000 - 6,000 per year, from 2013 onward. It will also contribute to Volvo’s commitment to having no deaths in any of its cars by 2020.
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