MOTORING NEWS - The new Volvo XC60 midsize SUV was named World Car of the Year 2018 at the recent New York Auto Show. The XC60 also scooped the prestigious North American Utility Vehicle of the Year award earlier this year, while the XC40 small SUV was named European Car of the Year at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The World Car of the Year win is the first in this competition for Volvo Cars.
"I am pleased to see our company's product investments paying off," said Håkan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Cars. "We were up against some tough competition, but this award for the XC60 shows that Volvo has the right combination of design, connectivity and safety that appeals to customers across the world."
In the new XC60, Euro NCAP's best overall performer in 2017, Volvo's city safety autonomous emergency braking system has been enhanced with steering support when automatic braking alone may not help avoid a potential collision. In addition, oncoming lane mitigation with steer assist (which helps mitigate head-on collisions) and blind spot information system (BLIS) with steer assist functionality have been added to reduce the risk of lane-changing collisions.
XC60 is available with a range of diesel and petrol engines as well as Volvo Cars' award-winning T8 Twin Engine petrol plug-in hybrid at the top of the powertrain range.
These two accolades came hot on the heels of Samuelsson being awarded World Car Person of the Year by a panel of international media in Geneva.
He was given this inaugural award in recognition of his work in driving the success of Volvo Cars in recent years.
The new Volvo XC60 will be available in South Africa from mid-2018.
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