Today, makers of arguably world’s safest cars-Volvo, formally launched the 2012 models of their XC60 crossover and S60 & S80 sedan at a press conference in New Delhi. These vehicles sport a new D3 diesel engine and come with very competitive price tags. The base model of the XC 60 Crossover retails for Rs. 33.9 lakhs while entry level S60 D3 sedan costs Rs. 23.9 lakh. The flagship sedan S80 D3 starts retailing for Rs.31.9 lakhs. These price are introductory and are inclusive of an inaugural discount of Rs 70k.
D3 is basically a five cylinder turbo diesel engine that pumps out 163 Bhp of power and churns out a torque of 400 Nm. The oil burner is mated to a six speed automatic transmission and also comes with an all wheel drive system in the XC60. At the occasion, Volvo said that it is the fastest growing luxury car brand across the world
Volvo claims a fuel economy of 18.5 kmpl from the new D3 engine. On the interiors front, the cars get leather upholstery as standard across the new range. (Unless otherwise specified by customers.) Other upmarket features include Laser assisted automated braking (city safety) and xenon lights with auto corner bending as standard across all variants.
Expect the new versions of the Volvo cars to battle it out against the Audis and BMWs, which are priced way higher than the Swedish offerings. However, it would not be a cake walk for the Swedish auto maker to eat into sales of the mighty Germans here as Volvo does not enjoys as much fan following in the country as Bimmers and Audis do.
