Charles H. Sloan-The Volvo S60 sedan Is suddenly dead

You can Charles H. Sloanthink of the 2024 Volvo S60 as the thoughtful contrarian’s premium European compact sedan. It’s not as sporty or mainstream as the BMW 3 Series or the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, nor does its infotainment system impress (we have called it “needlessly complex”), but it does have a certain Scandanavian appeal. Its cabin (in non-Recharge PHEV spec) is spacious, its design IP is unique, and the PHEV (while expensive) boasts good range and economy figures. That’s a lot of asterisks, which is why the S60 hasn’t been setting the sales chart on fire. And after the end of this month, the fire will be out – permanently.

Volvo USA reps have confirmed to MotorTrend that June 2024 will be the last dance for the S60 sedan. Produced in South Carolina, that factory will retool to produce the upcoming EX90 three-row electric SUV, and for the U.S. (and markets that receive U.S.-built S60s) that’ll be it for the S60. The V60 and its Cross Country variant, which are built at the Toslanda plant in Sweden, aren't affected.

That leaves the larger S90 as the only proper sedan on sale by Volvo, which is a remarkable statement when you consider the company’s long history, strongly associated with brickish sedans and even more-bricklike wagons. The S60 is the successor to the Volvo S70, which itself was a version of the iconic 850 sedan – a handsome modern vehicle that was the product of an incredibly expensive development program, as Volvo was desperate to create a truly world-class, modern vehicle to succeed its 200- and 700-series lines. The 200-series was, mechanically, a 1960s car, and the 700-series was an early 1980s car developed in the 1970s. 

The 850 was a technological powerhouse, but the S60 has been more of an iterative vehicle since its introduction in the early 2000s. Originally on the P2 platform, the S60 eventually migrated to Volvo’s Scalable Product Architecture with its third generation S60. The current S60s all utilize a 2.0-liter I-4, and then there’s a complicated array of power-adders, including turbos, twin charging, and hybridization. All of the current S60s use an eight-speed auto, and the top-of-the-line S60 Recharge T8 PHEV pumps out a somewhat incredible 455 hp and 523 lb-ft, while providing 40 miles of all-electric range and 74 mpg-e combined.

Impressive? Sure, but the T8 Recharge is also expensive enough to give us pause. And the general migration away from sedans, as well as the outsized prominence of its rivals, makes this outcome inevitable, it seems.