The Volvo XC60 facelift is here – with Android Automotive

Volvo didn’t make big news for the updated Volvo XC60 facelift, instead, the focus landed on the new electric car. But here is at least the news that the XC60 offers.

Yesterday it was actually exactly four years since Volvo lifted the veil of today’s XC60, a car that was launched on the market a few months later, in the summer of 2017.
The XC60 has been Volvo’s bestseller for many years, and this fine suit was not broken when the new generation took over. Also last year, it was Volvo’s number one with 191,696 units sold. But the XC40 is now the big brother notch in the heel – 185,406 copies – and in terms of the first two months of 2021, the XC40 is actually ahead of the XC60 – 24,077 against 22,251.

Should the XC60 be able to compete with the little brother The XC40 is an update of great importance, and one is now about to be launched. Volvo has not yet presented the update in the form of pomp and circumstance (read: press release), but pictures and information have slipped on foreign Internet sites in recent days, including in Australia and Southeast Asia.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”1″ gal_title=”Volvo Xc60″]

Images: Volvo Cars

The external changes on the XC60 are minimal, much like when the XC90 was updated 2 years ago and the S90 and V90 last year.
We mainly note a new lower part in the front, that is, the one that extends under the grille and headlights. The grill can be perceived as untouched, and of course, it still has 21 vertical ribs, but these have become stronger (double ribs) and are more clearly visible, especially in the Inscription design when the ribs are chromed.
In the R-Design (and Polestar Engineered) version, the grill looks like before, a black grid grill. Instead, the focus has been on the spoiler section, which is more angular and has received more posts, which means that the front is perceived as more aggressive than before.

At the back, it can be said that the changes are quite clear. The top two-thirds look the same as before, but the lower third, ie the bumper section, is new. Gone are the visible tailpipes, both on the plug-in hybrids and on the mild hybrids, even on the “performance version” Polestar Engineered. The removal means that the chrome inserts on the Inscription variant have been moved down and become larger.

The biggest news in updated XC60: Android Automotive.

Images: Volvo Cars

In the interior, it looks more or less like before, but a big change is there, the XC60 has got Android Automotive. No, we do not mean Android Auto support, but Android Automotive, that is, Google’s car operating system that has been hailed by us and many more. Polestar 2 was the first to come out with this system and the Volvo XC40 Recharge P8 AWD followed.

Android Automotive means, among other things, smooth integration of cloud services (Google Maps, Google Assistant and more), but also a welcome feature that is becoming increasingly common in the automotive world, namely OTA update. This means that the car does not need to visit a workshop to get the software updated, because it is done wirelessly via the mobile network.

The powertrains from today remain, ie the mild hybrids B4, B5 and B6, where the first two are included in both petrol and diesel versions. The B6 is only available as a petrol engine and with four-wheel drive. B4 and B5 are also available with front-wheel drive depending on the model version. The power figures are as before: B4 (petrol and diesel) 197 hp, B5 (petrol) 250 hp, B5 (diesel) 235 hp and B6 300 hp.
The charging hybrids Recharge T6 AWD and Recharge T8 AWD remain at 340 and 390 horsepower respectively. The Polestar Engineered variant with 405 horsepower.
The batteries of the charging hybrids still have a capacity of 11.6 kWh, but the consumption and range figures have been adjusted slightly. The maximum range of electricity is now 53 km instead of 54 as before, and the maximum consumption is 3.3 liters per 100 km instead of 3 liters per 100 km which was the figure Polestar Engineered version showed before the update Carbon dioxide emissions vary between 54 and 73 grams per kilometer, previously the figures were 53 to 69 grams.

Updated Volvo XC60 rolls out on the roads later this year. What price adjustments we can expect remains to be seen, in Sweden, today the XC60 starts as a mild hybrid at SEK 409,900 while the one as a charging hybrid starts at SEK 579,900. (Around 41.000 euro to 58 000 euro for the charging hybrid)

Volvo XC60 facelift
Volvo XC60 facelift