You need to know these five short histories about Volvo XC60.

The listing of Volvo’s brand new XC60 marks the birth of a milestone product after the Volvo brand comprehensive rejuvenation strategy entered the second stage.

On December 20 th, Volvo’s new generation XC60 was officially launched. From the concept car exposure to the first generation of production models, XC60 gradually grew into a masterpiece of Volvo family car sales in nine years, and the brand-new one becameShoulder the milestone products after the brand enters the second stage of the revival strategy.

New Volvo XC60 Model and Price

As Yuan Xiaolin, senior vice president of Volvo Car Group and president and CEO of Asia Pacific, said, "At the critical stage of brand revival, Volvo’s main task now is to focus on enhancing the brand’s position in the global luxury car market, rather than simply impacting the sales performance of tens of thousands of vehicles." Therefore, under the guidance of this concept, the "people-oriented" spirit runs through the research and development of Volvo’s new generation XC60.

The car prophet learned that the first generation Volvo XC60 bears the heavy responsibility of 35%~40% of the total brand sales in Volvo’s product system, and the mass production of new models will also become a "sharp weapon" for luxury car companies to help Volvo achieve the fastest sales growth in China in 2018. Then, when was this Volvo pillar model born, what platform was it built on, and what was the localization process and market performance in China? Today’s article may solve these questions.

Origin of Volvo XC Series Naming

A clear model naming often represents the maturity of car companies in market segments. First-line luxury car brands, such as "BBA", have exquisite naming procedures for core cars, SUVs, coupes and other sub-models, and Volvo Cars also has a unique naming system.

Volvo XC series models

In the Volvo family products, the code name of the car series is "S", the SUV series is named "XC" and the logo of the tour bus is "V", and numbers such as 40, 60 and 90 are added after the letter code to indicate different grades of vehicles. For example, it is a medium and large car, the V90 is a tour bus extended from S90, the XC90 and XC60 are Volvo’s medium and large SUVs, and Volvo also has an independent high-performance brand Polestar.

Where does Volvo XC60 come from?

The news about the appearance of Volvo XC60 first came out in 2006. One year later, at the North American International Auto Show, the XC60 concept car designed by Volvo for the future appeared as scheduled. The new model combines the unique versatility of XC series and the dynamic charm of sports cars, and once it appeared, it won the attention of the outside world.

Volvo XC60 concept car

The Volvo XC60 concept car combines the design essence of a unique and innovative dynamic model. The tin bronze color design is quite passionate, and the classic iron logo of Volvo models has also been redesigned. The new logo is larger and embedded in the trapezoidal front grille. The lower body embodies the powerful dynamics of XC series, with the characteristics of large wheels and high ground clearance, while the outline of the body outlined by the smooth curve is full of the dynamic charm of elegant sports cars.

Volvo XC60 was born.

Volvo’s first generation XC60 products were originally designed based on Ford EUCD platform. After being acquired by Geely in 2010, Volvo, which has more autonomy, began to develop new technologies. In 2011, the concept of a new platform for SPA was put forward for the first time. In 2013, the modular platform for SPA was born. In 2015, the first new car based on SPA platform was officially launched, and the second model based on this platform was the brand-new XC60.

It’s been nine years since the first generation model was launched, during which the XC60 has gradually become the best-selling model under the Volvo brand. Statistics show that as of November this year, the cumulative sales volume of the first generation Volvo XC60 in the global market was 143,000 vehicles, up 0.5% year-on-year.It has become the best-selling model in its class luxury SUV.

Volvo brand new XC60

Volvo XC60 made its debut in China in April 2008, and was introduced to China as an import one year later. It was not until 2014 that the domestic XC60 was officially rolled off the assembly line and put on sale in Chengdu. On November 3rd, 2017, the XC60 code-named K413 rolled off the production line at Volvo Chengdu factory, marking the official discontinuation of the first generation of domestic XC60, and the factory is about to welcome the production of a new generation of XC60.

Where is the new generation XC60 produced?

The Volvo XC60, which was rolled off the production line in Torslanda, Sweden in April this year, has been listed overseas. In China, the domestic XC60 will be assembled and produced in the Volvo Chengdu factory. At present, Volvo has three production bases in China, namely Chengdu, Daqing and Zhangjiakou factories. Among them, the Chengdu factory, which was built with global unified standards and put into production first, is of great significance, ensuring the "original" quality and height of products and European origin, and the first generation of domestic XC60 models came from this factory.

The Last First Generation XC60 Car of Volvo Chengdu Factory rolled off the assembly line.

In April this year, Volvo Chengdu factory completed the construction, debugging and trial installation of SPA production line, preparing for the production of the new XC60. It is reported that Volvo first proposed the concept of SPA platform in 2011, and officially demonstrated the modular platform in 2013. In 2015, the first new car Volvo XC90 based on SPA platform was officially released, and the second model based on this platform was the brand-new XC60.

In addition, Volvo Daqing Factory has just started the production plan of the brand-new S90 model. In the future, S90, which is also based on the SPA platform, may not rule out the possibility of co-production of the brand-new XC60.

Market Performance of Volvo XC60

If you ask Volvo which car sells the best at the moment, many people will answer that it is XC90, the flagship model of "internal and external repair", or S90, which is valued by off the charts. In fact, the best-selling model of the Volvo family is not an old model that has been on the market for 9 years-XC60.

As the main sales force of Volvo, as of November this year, the cumulative global sales volume of the first-generation Volvo XC60 was 143,000 units, up 0.5% year-on-year, of which the new-generation XC60, which just went off the assembly line in Torslanda, Sweden, sold 27,000 units. A total of 169,000 new and old models were sold, accounting for 33% of the total sales of the brand.

Now China has surpassed the United States to become the largest single market for Volvo in the world. In 2017, Volvo’s sales in China continued to grow rapidly. In November this year, the monthly sales increased by 24% to 11,000 vehicles, and the cumulative sales in the first 11 months reached 104,000 vehicles, up by 29.2% year-on-year. At the same time, Volvo’s sales in China exceeded 100,000 vehicles for the first time this year.

Yuan Xiaolin, Senior Vice President of Volvo Car Group and President and CEO of Asia Pacific.

According to Yuan Xiaolin, senior vice president of Volvo Car Group and president and CEO of Asia-Pacific region, XC60 is responsible for 35%~40% of all brand sales in Volvo’s current product system. From this conversion point of view, the new generation XC60 is expected to become a "sharp weapon" to help Volvo achieve the fastest sales growth in China in 2018.