Report: Volvo working on VW Golf competitor, new line of engines and hybrids, and potential C60 luxury coupe

Volvo has been working hard to revitalize their lineup to hone in their aim on competing with its other terrestrial competitors on the continent of Europe—particularly Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi. Not only is this apparent with the reinvigoration of their entire lineup, with Volvos seemingly growing in the luxury department, but it’s also visible with their manufacturing strategies as Volvo has been trying to climb aboard the modular platform train by designing their own.

In conjunction with Chinese-based Geely, Volvo introduced their Scalable Platform Architecture, which is a platform to underpin majority of Volvo’s lineup. And to add to Volvo’s plan for expansion, Automobile Magazine reports that Volvo has a desire to directly compete against the Volkswagen GTI—something that the Volvo C30 was originally designed to do but didn’t quite accomplish sales wise.

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However, because the Volvo C30 is on its way out, the Swedish maker is planning a successor based on a new modular platform that is separate from Volvo’s currently incoming SPA platform. This is due to the fact that the SPA platform cannot be sized down smaller than the proportions of the Volvo V40 without brushing up against weight and cost restrictions. That said, the SPA platform will only be left for the models like the V40 and larger.

That said, Volvo and Geely are apparently working on a new compact platform that will result in a Volkswagen Golf-sized architecture for a future hatchback and compact sedan. They’re said to be powered by a completely new line of four-bangers good for up to 306hp along with some three-cylinder engines good for up to 204hp. Volvo will also be expanding their plug-in hybrid offerings, which can allow a boost of up to 100hp in power.

Should the success of Volvo’s new lineup phase take off as the brand plans, Volvo hopes it will enable them to produce a halo car known internally as the “C60” by 2016. The “C60” was described by Automobile to be “breathtaking” and a Volvo “worth waiting for.” Well, let us hope so.

– By: Chris Chin

Source: Automobile Magazine