Automobile preferences are such an intriguing aspect to analyze for how subjective they can be. Just like many aspects of everyday life, any given topic results able to spur the most different opinions from people, depending only on from which point of view it’s been observed. Long-wheelbase sedans, for instance, are seen by Western people as something restricted to luxury cars. The most probable of such thought would be the strong image of typical North-American limousines, which are frequently seen in black, using several windows and so enlarged that the driver’s door stays meters away from the wealthy owner’s one. In nowadays, however, many automakers started to achieve that mixed feeling of power and seclusion with a much more practical solution.
Instead of such exaggerated wheelbase increases, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have opted for just enlarging the rear doors’s section, leaving everything in front of and behind it untouched. This way still delivers a similar legroom increase but turns much harder to spot from the outside – besides looking much more balanced, most of these buyers will always appreciate to travel attracting as less attention as possible. And this is actually the starting point of the Chinese opinion about stretched cars: if there’s a way to make a given car offer much more internal space without extense changes such as creating a new model or going for a traditional limousine, why it couldn’t be applied to cheaper sedans?
This is why Audi and BMW already sell enlarged versions of A4 and 3-Series exclusively for China – Mercedes-Benz might adapt C-Class from its upcoming generation. Just like those, the brand new Volvo doesn’t intend to be anything more than a roomier S60. The length increase was so well-disguised that the only way you can tell it is remembering that the front doors are the same: they’re longer than the standard rear ones, but slightly shorter than the extended set. In practice, the 8-cm enlargement can only be noticed if you’re looking to a stopped S60. Such overall moderation also makes the changes cheaper to produce, which is expressed in very friendly price increases. Once again, everything this public is looking for.
However, given that S60L is dedicated to passenger comfort, you shouldn’t expect sporty versions, not even the R-Design kit. The brand new Volvo’s intention is to take you with plenty of comfort and safety, not hurry. It has already started to be produced in Geely’s plant, at the Chinese city of Chengdu. However, you’re only going to see it there, once again because of the preference differences that would make S60L’s sales fail elsewhere. It’ll be offered there using turbocharged engines: the four-cylinder 2.0L can reach 200 hp or 240 hp, while the six-cylinder 3.0L achieves 300 hp.