Volvo Sees Your Crossover And Raises Its S60

We’ve had crossovers based on hatchbacks. We’ve had crossover based on wagons. Heck, we’ve even had crossover coupes but now we’ve got a crossover based on a sedan. You might be thinking another niche no one asked for, so which whacky Germany company was it this time? Because it’s always the Germans. Four door coupes? Mercedes. Hot hatch crossovers? Audi. Sports Activity Coupe? BMW.

Erm, no. Not this time. Yes the car you see here is a Volvo, a Swedish brand. The Swedes aren’t known for their wild niches, so this S60 Cross Country does come as a bit of a surprise. Surely it answers a question nobody thought to ask. It’s just like a normal S60 sedan but risen by 65mm. Think of it then as a S60 with a bit too much baking powder.

Volvo have been ‘Cross Countrying’ their wagons and hatchbacks for quite some time now. Their current ‘CC’ range consists of the V40, V60, and V70. Then there’s also the ‘XC’ series of cars too, which fill the SUV segment. So what on Earth made Volvo decide to be like Josh Groban and raise the S60 up? Someone at Volvo must’ve seen the current crop of ‘four door coupes’ and didn’t like where sedans were going; lower and lower.

Then they probably saw the success of the SUV/coupe that is the BMW X4 and thought “hmm, we want a piece of that action but don’t want to spend years and millions developing a new car. Let’s just jack up a car we already produce!” Okay, maybe it’s not as simple as that. Granted, there are markets in Europe and North America where snow and ice are a constant struggle many buyers face. Some might need the extra ground clearance but don’t want to have a wagon or SUV body.

The Germans, and more recently Jaguar, also offer AWD versions of their sedans in Northern Hemisphere for snow prone markets. Perhaps Volvo are onto a thing here, it’s an invention created out of necessity. Other than the extra 65mm and AWD, the S60 CC is pretty much the same as the more down to earth S60. Engine choices will range from a five-cylinder turbo petrol to four and five-cylinder turbo diesels. Front-wheel drive and AWD will be available.

What do you think? Could this be one of the big trends for 2015? Will we see a jacked up Toyota Camry or Bentley Mulsanne in the coming months? Or indeed would you pick one over the equally raised V60 CC wagon? Perhaps some Volvo engineers just had too much time over their Christmas break.