- Volvo on Tuesday said its 2013 V60 plug-in diesel hybrid will be priced at $75,218 — about $27,000 more expensive than a conventional V60 wagon — when it goes on sale in Europe in early 2012.
- The U.S. is not included in the initial market launch of the V60 hybrid.
- Volvo said it will build 1,000 units for model year 2013, with production increasing to 4,000-6,000 cars in model year 2014.
GOTHENBURG, Sweden — Volvo on Tuesday said its 2013 V60 plug-in diesel hybrid will be priced at $75,218 — about $27,000 more expensive than a conventional V60 wagon — when it goes on sale in Europe in early 2012.
Volvo has said that estimated fuel costs will be one-third compared with a conventional combustion engine. The diesel-hybrid wagon was unveiled at the 2011 Geneva Auto Show. Volvo says the fuel economy is the equivalent of 124 mpg, with CO2 emissions of just 49 g/km.
"There is immense interest from the markets," said Stefan Jacoby, Volvo president and CEO in a statement. "We are convinced that the first thousand cars will be sold even before production gets underway next autumn."
The U.S. is not included in the initial market launch of the diesel-hybrid V60.
Volvo said it will build 1,000 units for model year 2013, with production increasing to between 4,000-6,000 cars in model year 2014. The Swedish automaker says that it expected 80 percent of total sales will be company cars.
About 30 percent of the total volume of the diesel-hybrid V60 will go to Sweden and other Nordic countries, said Volvo in a statement. Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom will get between 5 and 15 percent each of the rest.
Volvo's U.K. arm said that the car will be priced between $70,177 and $77,974.
The car's 2.4-liter five-cylinder diesel engine and electric motor deliver a combined output of 285 horsepower.
The production car will be launched in just one color — Electric Silver. In the cabin, conventional gauges have been replaced by a one-piece LED screen with display options. It is also possible to communicate with the diesel-hybrid V60 via a mobile app.
Inside Line says: European buyers will have to open the wallet wide to get into Volvo's diesel-hybrid.
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qdp says:
03:56 PM, 12/14/2011
@duck87
For the diesel hybrid, there should be no more "stop/run operation" because the diesel engine can keep runing to charge its larger battery to aviod idling, I suppose.
The nicest thing about the hybrid, including diesel ones, is that it can optimize the engine design to achieve optimal efficiency, which in a way significantly reduces pollution.
morey000 says:
09:18 AM, 12/14/2011
nice- but seems about $27K too expensive. I want one... but not THAT badly.
duck87 says:
08:45 AM, 12/14/2011
@mcd0234: I don't think diesel hybrids make any sense at all. Both the motor and the engine have similar power curves; the difference for petrols is that they can be tuned for high end power and allow the motor to make up for low end torque; or, the petrol can be tuned to be an atkinson cycle engine working in a narrow range.
The thing about diesel powertrains is that they emit more particulates and NoX than petrol engines (read: the actual poisonous emissions that harm life and cause acid rain, not CO2 emissions). Start/stop operation with diesel powertrains makes this even worse. This goes completely against one of the key advantages of hybrid technology, which is lower emissions.
Not only that, but look at the price premiums of having to combine the two technologies.
@lolxd: You forgot "standard of living". People in places like the UK have to 'pay more', but they get 'paid more' as well. This car is expensive even by European terms, but most things are more expensive in European countries.
damaje says:
05:54 AM, 12/14/2011
Hmm the germans add 2 grand for the diesel, another 2 for the hybrid and probably another 2 for the plug in bits, meaning Mercedes could outfit an R class with this type of powertrain for less than a volvo. Hmm Mercedes minivan vs volvo wagon, I am thinking for 75,000 I'd go with the benz, there is just more cache to it. If Mercedes would offer a powertrain like this in the E-class wagon and Audi in the a6 Avant they would end up undercutting the Volvo by at least 5 grand, and again both those brands have the kinda cache required to sell a $70k+ car.
Volvo should learn from VWs mistake with the first generation Pheaton, it was a remarkable car, though a bit bland on the outside, and though it could have competed with the Lexus LS and A8, 7series and S class in their base varients at the time while undercutting their prices, VW just did not have the brand cache to justify a car with that price tag. Had they put that interior in an Audi wrapper or in a new entry level Bentley they could have sold it alot easier.
damaje says:
05:44 AM, 12/14/2011
Wow the germans add in about 2 grand for the diesel and probably another 2 grand for the hybrid, I am guessing they would add an extra 2 grand on a plug in version of the hybrid, so if Mercedes would offer the powertrain on an R class they may actually be able to sell an R class and still do it for less all while giving the driver alot more cache than a volvo. An I imagine an E wagon, A6 Avant with this power train would probably undercut the Volvo, but with all the anto bullying campaigns out there would not be very politicially correct. But then again, at least Mercedes and Audi are car brands that can sell cars in a 75,000 price range, I think Volvo is more a brand that needs to work its way up to that point.
lolxd says:
06:00 PM, 12/13/2011
@ed341
"Am I missing something or are cars just outrageously more expensive elsewhere?"
Of course and it's not because of currency value differences. I blame the corrupt bastards sitting in the government for putting huge tax and I mean HUGE on imported goods but I mostly blame the idiots who voted them in.
agentorange says:
03:37 PM, 12/13/2011
@ed341
"Am I missing something or are cars just outrageously more expensive elsewhere?"
That depends on your point of view. My opinion is that what the US considers mid-size cars are artificially cheap in the US when compared to the rest of the world. Maybe such cars are sold in large numbers here at miniscule margins because the volume of the US market allows such games. This practice sets a level that makes small cars very difficult to sell.
mcd0234 says:
03:13 PM, 12/13/2011
I would be really interested in this car if it was available to us. I wonder why they are making so few of them, even when ramped up to 4000 units thats still not very many but either way I would certainly consider it, and if they offered it with AWD I would even spend close to the EU pricing on it for 124mpg (assuming it was at least above 100mpg in the real world). It doesn't sound like its an underpowered weeny car for environmental nuts either, which taken together with Volvo getting its act together on building some nicely sorted interiors of late makes it interesting - would prefer them to do something about their NAV system that apparently doesn't know the names of roads and it could use a bigger screen with a better separate interface. Do like the look of that shifter, diesel-hybrids make far more sense than petrol-hybrids.
speedynk says:
01:50 PM, 12/13/2011
Converting UK or Euro prices to US currency is totaling misleading. Each currency has about the same buying power in the respective country. A $4 Starbucks might cost 4 pounds in the UK which is expensive to a visitor from the states but the cost to the locals is the same. A loaded diesel Honda CRV Auto & Navi is around 30000 UK pounds which is includes all taxes ...not far off the US price when taxes & registration are included.
urbanxj says:
01:46 PM, 12/13/2011
Volvo used to make some pretty cool looking bricks. Now all their cars look like bloated balls. What gives Volvo?