Sedan gross sales have been on the decline for years. You understand it and I do know it. Americans can’t get sufficient crossovers and SUVs. It’s why there’s a dizzying quantity of utility fashions obtainable from practically each automotive producer. But some manufacturers nonetheless attempt to make sedans work, and generally they attempt to broaden the traditional four-door’s attraction by making one thing no one requested for. That was the Volvo S60 Cross Country.
Take a sedan and provides it the trip top of an SUV. It’s nothing new. AMC did it with its Eagle line within the early Eighties. Subaru did it within the late Nineties with its Legacy Outback sedan. Toyota is making an attempt it out at present with the Crown. It’s one thing totally different and new to some individuals. But Volvo doing it within the 2010s was form of unusual, contemplating the state of the corporate and its choices on the time.
For years, Volvo by no means really bought an SUV or crossover, even after these autos had turn out to be extraordinarily standard within the U.S. The firm’s first try to please potential 4×4 consumers was the primary Cross Country mannequin, the V70 XC, launched in 1997. It was basically a raised-up model of the usual V70 wagon, with unpainted black plastic physique cladding and distinctive exterior trim.
And it labored — as a result of it was a wagon. Buyers didn’t simply need the added trip top and commanding view that SUVs provided, they wished the cargo house, and the V70 Cross Country had that. The Cross Country lineup expanded in later years to incorporate V60 and V90 Cross Country wagons (and the V40 Cross Country, by no means bought within the U.S.).
But for some cause, for the 2016 mannequin 12 months, issues modified. Volvo determined to introduce a Cross Country sedan.
The S60 Cross Country was based mostly on the second-generation S60 sedan, which nonetheless rode on a Ford-designed platform launched a decade prior. The trip top was raised; black fender extensions had been added; all-wheel drive, skid plates entrance and rear, and hill respectable management rounded out the Cross Country makeover. Power got here from a 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-5 paired with a six-speed computerized. It made 250 horsepower and 266 lb-ft of torque, and was the only engine possibility.
These modifications made the S60 Cross Country distinctive, however in addition they made this sedan right into a automotive of “buts.” The raised trip top was nice for straightforward entry and exit, plus an SUV-like view of the street… however it made dealing with worse. The dated, on-its-way-out inline-5 was later changed by a contemporary 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder… however solely within the final mannequin 12 months of S60 Cross Country manufacturing. The 7.9-inch floor clearance sounded spectacular… however solely within the context of different sedans. As Car and Driver identified of their evaluate of the 2016 S60 Cross Country, the Volvo’s trip top was nonetheless decrease than true crossovers just like the Subaru Forester and Jeep Renegade.
And then there’s the sensible matter. Buyers may have a look at the S60 Cross Country and envision adventures within the nice outside… however the sedan’s trunk solely provided 12 cubic ft of house, in comparison with the V60 Cross Country’s 28 (or 43 with the rear seats folded). The S60 Cross Country’s existence begged the query of why somebody wouldn’t simply go for the V60 Cross Country — or Volvo’s precise SUVs, the XC90 that debuted in 2003 or the XC60 that arrived in 2010.
Pricing wasn’t any higher. While the S60 Cross Country was cheaper than the V60 Cross Country, it wasn’t by a lot. Loaded out, a V60 Cross Country may ring in at slightly below $50,000. An S60 Cross Country got here in at simply over $48,000 loaded — and each value greater than the Volvo XC60.
Volvo appeared to know that the S60 Cross Country wasn’t going to be a giant vendor. Initially, Volvo solely deliberate to deliver 500 examples to the U.S. for its first mannequin 12 months in 2016; the corporate ended up promoting 1,887 of them. Sales declined yearly by means of the top of the automotive’s life. In 2017 simply 312 discovered properties; in 2018, Volvo solely bought 203 S60 Cross Country sedans, together with only one in December of that 12 months.
Could the S60 Cross Country be a cautionary story for the Toyota Crown? Maybe. But they’re each examples of automakers making an attempt to make one thing distinctive to attraction to extra consumers, an effort at mixing the styling of a sedan with the practicality of a crossover. If the destiny of the S60 Cross Country tells us something, it’s that the world may not be prepared for such a car.
Source: jalopnik.com