Business case will have to be studied fastidiously first.
Swedish luxury car marque Volvo had previously slated the arrival of its new S60 compact “sports” saloon (their claims, not ours) to the second-half of next year, following the introduction of the V60 estate on our shores. However, it seems that since then the company’s local office has revised their position, and want to take a longer, harder look at the business case before committing to it.
The Volvo S60, while historically offering strong value in the crowded compact saloon space, has largely been unable to challenge more established rivals like the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and the BMW 3-Series, undoubtedly the two dominant players in the class. And while hacks like us and our peers have been very impressed with Volvo’s latest crop of passenger cars our opinions (unfortunately) don’t translate into solid sales numbers.
“A decision to take a model as part of the product portfolio is always a longer-term proposition. There is no final decision as yet. A decision will be communicated closer to the model’s global introduction.” — Greg Bosnich, Spokesperson, Volvo Cars Australia
The comments by Bosnich were made to Motoring, who then claimed that the S60’s production centre in the US could be interpreted as a clear indicator that the model’s availability in Australia isn’t a surety. Differing tastes in the US market versus ours is cited as the main issue, though knowing how Volvo manufactures its cars, we don’t think there’s so little flexibility in the production line that alternative configurations can’t be accommodated.
Further, Volvo’s engineered-in modularity and high-level of parts sharing is one of the most significant contributors to the company’s profit margins. So a US-based manufacturing facility wouldn’t play too big of a role in defining the S60’s global availability.
However, the business case for the S60 will most definitely have to be studied long and hard. With the growing popularity of SUVs, and the already-complete offering of Volvo’s SUV range on our shores, it’s entirely within reason for Volvo Australia to want to gloss over the S60 entirely. Furthermore, those seeking a conventional passenger-car package could be serviced by the V60 estate, which offers greater practicality to boot (no pun intended). Our fingers are crossed, how about yours?
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