Volvo XC60 wins World Car of the Year award

The XC60 also won the prestigious North American Utility of the Year Award earlier this year, while the XC40 small SUV was named European Car of the Year at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month. The World Car of the Year win is the first in this competition for Volvo Cars, the premium car maker. Volvo’s NZ GM Coby Duggan says the new XC60 arrived in NZ last year and has proved popular with Kiwis due to its distinct Scandinavian design, intuitive technology and industry-leading safety features. “The new XC60 has introduced a number of new vehicle safety innovations to this market, such as the ability for the car to automatically steer itself out of trouble and avoid head-on collisions. The World Car of the Year award recognises the advances Volvo has made in autonomous drive technology as well as functional design, and confirms the XC60 represents an intelligent choice in the competitive premium SUV segment,” he says. In the new XC60, Euro NCAP’s best overall performer in 2017, Volvo’s City Safety Autonomous Emergency Braking system has been enhanced with steering support for when automatic braking alone may not help avoid a potential collision. In addition, Oncoming Lane Mitigation with Steer Assist helps mitigate head-on collisions, and Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) with Steer Assist functionality has been added to reduce the risk of lane-changing collisions. The XC60 is available with a range of diesel and petrol engines, as well as Volvo’s award-winning T8 Twin Engine petrol plug-in hybrid at the top of the powertrain range, delivering 390hp and acceleration from 0-100km/h in just 5.3 seconds. Håkan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Cars says he is pleased the investment in innovation is paying off for the company. “We are up against some tough competition, but this award for the XC60 shows that Volvo has the right combination of design, connectivity and safety that appeals to customers across the world.”