Volvo planning Polestar performance model for XC90 crossover line

The speedy Swedes behind Volvo’s Polestar tuning division have announced that a high-performance version of the brand’s big XC90 crossover will join the S60 and V60 under the Rebel Blue banner next year.

The news comes in an AutoExpress interview with Volvo’s VP of Powertrain, Michael Fleiss, who says that power-wise, the XC90 Polestar will sit between the T6 gasoline and T8 plug-in hybrid models, which suggests an output in the area of 360 horsepower from the supercharged and turbocharged four-cylinder engine shared with the T6.

Firm details are few, but other upgrades will likely include bigger brakes and tighter handling, and a body kit that apes the look of the R-Design trim.

In spite of Polestar’s motorsport cred, the XC90 Polestar likely wouldn’t be the performance equal of BMW’s V8-powered X5 50i (at least, not in a straight line), and it certainly won’t sound as good without some artificial engine noise pumped into the cabin. And even then, that doesn’t address another reason for wanting six- or eight-cylinder power, which is how good those motors sound from the outside. Sound aside, we wonder about the possibility of a Polestar version of that T8 model: a pumped-up version of that gas-electric powertrain could provide a legitimate performance alternative to that V8-motivated BMW.

The next question is when the Polestar XC90 would reach dealerships; AutoExpress suggests it will happen no sooner than 2016 in Europe, which might mean an even later arrival in North America, if it makes it here at all.