At the ongoing New York Auto Show, the Volvo XC60 was adjudged as the World Car of the Year 2018. This also happens to be the first WCOTY award won by Volvo Cars. The XC60 winning the award is not surprising either, looking at the eye catching design, features and loads of safety tech that make its case so strong. The Volvo XC60 won the title by beating the other two world finalists – Range Rover Velar and Mazda CX-5.
Last year, the XC60 was rated the safest car of the year 2017 at the Euro NCAP crash tests, while also winning the North American Utility car of the Year award, early in 2018. Its smaller sibling, the XC40 won the European Car of the Year at the Geneva Motor Show that concluded earlier this month. With this win, the new Volvo XC60 joins an elite group of previous WCOTY winners over the years that include Jaguar F-Pace, Mazda MX-5, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Audi A3.
The new XC60 is based on the scalable architecture platform (SPA) that underpins the new 90 and 60 series cars. Internationally, the XC60 gets both petrol and diesel powertrains. In India, SUV is available only in one variant, which is the D5 inscription. Powering the XC60 is a 2-litre turbo diesel that makes 232bhp and 480Nm of twist. The engine comes paired to an 8-speed gearbox that sends power to all four wheels.
After the XC60 was crowned as the WCOTY 2018, an elated Håkan Samuelsson, the president and CEO of Volvo Cars said, “I am pleased to see our company’s product investments paying off. We are up against some tough competition, but this award for the XC60 show that Volvo has the right combination of design, connectivity and safety that appeal to customers across the world.”