New Volvo S60 2019: another one that “ditches” diesel

The new Volvo mid-size saloon, the Volvo S60, is abandoning diesel engines and will only be offered with petrol engines and in plug-in hybrid form.

Volvo confirms that its new mid-size saloon, the Volvo S60, will be the first model from the Swedish brand to be launched without diesel engines. And we are sure this is not because they read our article in which we gave 10 reasons to say goodbye to diesel. Because in our opinion, the diesel engine still has a lot of future, depending on the car and the intended use. The current Volvo diesels, for example, are marvellous. But the Swedish brand has other plans.

“Our future is electric, and we are not going to develop a new generation of diesel engines”, declares Hakan Samuelsson, the president of Volvo.

In this sense, the new Volvo S60 represents the next step towards the electrification that Volvo is preparing, which it already announced last month at the Beijing Motor Show with the launch of the Volvo S90 Ambience Concept and the Volvo XC40 plug-in hybrid, and whose plans foresee that half of its sales by 2025 will be electric models.

Like its “sibling” with estate bodywork, the Volvo V60 presented at the beginning of 2018 – the model shown in the images –, the saloon will be based on the new SPA platform developed by Volvo. But unlike the V60, which was announced with D3 and D4 engines of 150 and 190 CV, the S60 will not have diesel versions. It will only be sold with DriveE 4-cylinder petrol engines that will also receive mild-hybrid assistance, and two plug-in hybrid versions. Logically, these latter ones would be equivalent to the T6 Twin Engine of 340 CV and the T8 Twin Engine of 390 CV announced for the V60.

Both the latest driver assistance, connectivity and multimedia systems seen in the brand’s recent models, including the Volvo XC40, will be present in the S60, which can also be enjoyed under the exclusive and new Care by Volvo financing scheme.

Related information of interest:

• Volvo wants half of its sales in 2025 to be electric cars
• Mild-hybrid cars arrive: hybrids that aren’t hybrids