The mad Volvo wagon is back.

Sweden's safety-conscious car concern has lifted the lid on its range of Polestar tuning products for the new XC60, and the result may be more than you expect.

Blending a turbocharged four-cylinder engine with plug-in hybrid power, the Polestar-optimised XC60 T8 Twin Engine offers a surprising 314kW of power – more than Audi's SQ5 (260kW) or Porsche's Macan Turbo (294kW) performance SUVs. It also has 640Nm of pulling power, an output only beaten by the unhinged twin-turbocharged V8 of Mercedes-AMG's GLC 63 wagon.

But Volvo's SUV uses just 2.1L/100km, making it one of the most efficient cars on sale. The tweaks also include improved mid-range power and reprogrammed gearbox behaviour to suit enthusiast drivers.

It all ties in well with Volvo's commitment to stop selling cars driven solely by petrol or diesel power by 2019, when every model in the range will use hybrid or electric propulsion.  

Safety is accounted for by the brand's full range of driver aids which are now able to detect and avoid head-on collisions as well as reducing the risk of drivers running off the road.

The new XC60 arrives locally in the third quarter of 2017.

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