And just like that, it’s over.
You know the drill over the past few years: Manufacturers keep dropping sedans out of their lineups, and we have another one to add to the list. In just a few weeks, the Volvo S60 will roll off into the sunset — at least for the U.S. market — after the company confirmed to Car and Driver it will no longer build the cars at its Ridgeville, South Carolina plant.
That’s not to say the S60 will disappear from the world entirely. In fact, Volvo will still build its midsize sedan in China, but the automaker won’t import those cars to America. “The S60 is still being produced currently as a MY25 vehicle,” a Volvo spokesperson told C&D, “and is available at Volvo retailers across the country. Customers interested in the S60 are encouraged to reach out to their local retailer or visit [Volvo’s retail website] to learn more.”
Canned response though that may be, there is one good reason to actually consider the S60: the 455-horsepower Recharge plug-in hybrid. As sports sedans go, and in the spirit of the old S60R, that model is actually quite the sleeper, though you can also get a 247-horsepower turbocharged B5 model if you aren’t looking for performance. It’s worth noting that you can get the same powertrain in the XC60, though, leaning once again into the narrative that crossovers are slowly killing off sedans across the board in North America. The steady march continues here, evidently.
It’s not terribly surprising that Volvo decided to kill off the S60 for this market, especially as the South Carolina plant ramps up production of the electric EX90 crossover. Strangely, however, the S60 is doing remarkably well in Volvo’s sales charts, clocking up a 255% increase year-to-date through May 2024, totaling some 7,781 units. Still, it’s only managing half of what the XC60 and the XC90 can individually achieve.
