In the Volvo tradition of being well-known as a purveyor of station wagons, all the performance technology of the S60R will also be available as a wagon in the V70R model. There is something about a stealthy-fast hauler that is very appealing... So, the S60R is a "halo" car for Volvo, a demonstration of their technological prowess applied to maximize performance. In this day and age, when the car buyer's lust for speed and power has driven the manufacturers to create the most competent cars ever, Volvo just had to keep pace, even though they have cultivated an image of building among the safest and most environmentally responsible cars in the world.
They plan to build 7,500 R-models for 2003 in their factory in Belgium, with 350 of them slated to come to Canada. Two out of three are expected to be the S60R, with the rest V70Rs. Amazingly, considering that less than five percent of Volvos are sold with manual transmissions in Canada, the company expects 70 percent of all Rs sold here to be so equipped, a strong indication that there is still a market for high-end shift-yourself cars in this age of more sophisticated and prevalent automatic transmissions. Prices will start at $58,995.
In the sport sedan arena, Volvo may not have quite the cachet of said German brands, but the S60R (and V70R) certainly put them squarely in that market with a car that is very competent and different enough to be interesting, without compromising the brand's core values.