Vellum Venom: 2016 Volvo V60 Polestar

The most iconic Volvo is likely one of the brand’s brick-shaped models, bearing three-digit names and legions of followers. But since this is a car design column, I wager a better representation of Volvo’s reason for surviving in our complex automotive tapestry is a new generation of strong shoulder lines, traveling down the body side from headlight to taillight. It makes quite a statement on the 2011-2018 (P3) Volvo V60.

(I apologize for not cleaning this car beforehand. As a journalist who started Vellum Venom with an iPhone 4 and “no press cars, and therefore no time to second guess-my thoughts”, I am still playing the hand dealt to me.)

These sexy shoulder lines bore new names with alphanumeric designations, originating from the Volvo EEC Concept of 1992. Penned by Peter Horbury, the EEC’s strong shoulder line became just as important to Volvo’s DNA as its once upright styling, as witnessed by the achingly beautiful surfaces (for a sedan) of the 2000 Volvo S60.

While the second-generation S60 (2010) was softened considerably, Horbury’s shoulder line remained. And it was a stronger line when stamped into the muscular rear haunches of the S60’s station wagon derivative, the Volvo V60. But not all V60s make proper use of that shoulder line. Sampling the finely tuned, Polestar-infused design of this particular Volvo V60 might be the best way to see the evolution of Volvo’s shoulder line. So let’s run this one over the vellum to learn more.

(Editor’s Note: Regular readers may recognize from past articles that this is my car. Why is it so filthy? Because a black car left outside for more than 15 minutes in Ann Arbor, Michigan, during peak spring season, gets swaddled in a blanket of tree pollen. And Sajeev had a plane to catch, so no time to wipe it down. -Eric Weiner)

Peter Horbury’s legacy as a caring, modest, and good-natured person might indeed be unique in the cutthroat world of car design. If that’s true, it proves that sometimes the good guys win: The V60’s blending of Volvo’s famous grille with the shoulder surfacing originally found in the 1992 Volvo EEC Concept is even present in this 2016 model. The fenders naturally rise above the headlights, portending more performance than any mere station wagon should possess.

Of course, the Polestar badge (the blue one), aggressive hood contouring, and a subtle intercooler behind that deep lower valence don’t hurt when it comes to telling the world that not all station wagons are created equal.

The only fly in the ointment is how the hood’s many surface ripples (at least three) take away from Volvo’s now-iconic shoulder line. This wasn’t a problem back in 2000 with the original S60, but the design was forced to evolve, as we will soon see.

But below that finicky hood lies a muscular bumper with assertive headlights and a beefy snout to house Volvo’s famous grille. The Polestar really spices things up (technical term) with grilles below the daytime running lights (at the corner) and a lower valence with a thrusting frame around its grille for extra muscle.

Depending on your vantage point, the aforementioned “beefy snout” either looks purposeful, or worthy of an anteater reference. Of course, this elongated and shockingly upright face isn’t unique to the Volvo. Be it the BMW M3 or a mundane Chevy Malibu, all passenger cars need a big schnoz with a flat face.

But Volvo is (was?) known for putting safety first, be it with boxy styling alluding to crashworthiness for occupants, or innovative ways to protect pedestrians in the 2010s. Consider this “tumor” at the end of the nose as a very passive airbag for oncoming human beings.

The headlight assemblies have a handful of swagelines that likely serve a purpose (side marker, high beam reflector) and also add a bit of flare to the outer perimeter. The chrome around the light seemingly ends unceremoniously at the high beam bulb, but actually has a fluted texture so it doesn’t look unfinished. But it needed to stop at that location, as this helps accentuate the swageline in the bumper below the headlight as it curves into the grille.

The seemingly boring eggcrate grille has some surprising touches upon closer inspection, and not just the fact that the panoramic sized radar/adaptive cruise control module makes it impossible to get this shot without getting yourself in the photo.

The double-branded Polestar grille is not a factory fitment. There should be a Volvo, not Polestar, decal within Volvo’s famous logo, as the other blue square (covered in clear 3M film for protection) correctly signals the provenance of the storied motorsport brand. (As much as this Lincoln-Mercury fanboi loves his 1980s-90s Lincoln Continentals with double star logos on their front ends, seeing “Polestar” spelled out twice on the same grille seems excessive.)

But the grille itself is worthy of a premium vehicle with a luxurious asking price: silver inserts are used for Volvo’s famous diagonal bar while gloss black inserts are used for the rest of the Polestar’s grille texture. Blacking out a front fascia to signal high-performance intentions has been a thing since at least 1978, with the introduction of the Buick LeSabre Sport Coupe. It’s nice to see Polestar do the same shadow-line (to use a BMW term) treatment to their high-performance Volvo.

Be it as a digital graphic or an emblem, Volvo logos that lack any surfacing inside their ring shape are commonplace. Luckily no such smoothing out happened here, as there’s a thrusting arrow for maximum impact.

Parking sensors integrate nicely below the daytime running light, as there’s a unique trim panel to accentuate the added depth of the Polestar’s unique bumper. Volvo did manage to hide the headlamp washers, and their flush-mount doors are less intrusive than the wiper mounted on the headlamp as on prior generations.

The lower hemisphere of the Polestar’s bumper is indeed a fancy piece of design, as those daytime running lights now “point” in the direction of a pointy frame around the lower grille. That frame flattens out at the bumper’s central crest, but makes its presence known as the bumper tapers back to the wheels.

That frame is a two-piece affair, likely lowering repair costs after a collision. The same might be true of the splitters at each end of the bumper, as their lower stance makes them a target just like any performance car with a road-hugging sense of style.

Inside the lower bumper’s opening is an assertive honeycomb texture, unexpected in a Volvo product. Someone cleverly integrated a parking sensor by filling in two of the holes. Aside from the exposed wiring harness, this design is beyond clever in its presentation.

Everything layers up with the elegance of a delicately buttered croissant from this vantage point. The hood has an aggressive downward slope that blends with the thrust of the grille. And every layer of the Polestar’s unique lower valence has a significant pushing feel as it moves to the bumper’s centerline.

A top-tier, performance-oriented model always needs a fancy set of forged 20-inch wheels with intricate detailing. The V60 Polestar sports channeled spokes, deeply recessed lugs, and a little Polestar logo. The latter is much like what you’ve seen on BMW M-series wheels since the 1990s. It’s a nice touch, not to mention the spoke design complements the impossibly thin castings of the front brake calipers.

Here’s where the V60 Polestar really drives the point home: there is a shoulder line from headlight to taillight, and the truncated wagon roofline is made even hunkier by those 20-inch wheels and a lowered suspension. The Polestar comes from the factory with a rear suspension that sits lower than the front: Perhaps this helps with removing snow buildup in the wheel arches (especially when it freezes over) in places where Volvos tend to be popular?

The beginnings of the strong shoulder line are present in the front fender, albeit with a taller cowl that’s masked by extra height/waviness in the fender and hood. The extra contours also make themselves known near the wheel arch, as there’s a bend for both the shoulder line and the requisite flat-faced arch around the tire.

See the dirt lines on the hood? It may be hard to understand why all this surface detailing exists around the cowl area, especially since the area around the windscreen is quite tidy. But this area feels a bit taller than other cars of this modern era, so peek a little closer and the puzzle comes together quickly.

While vintage muscle cars may be blessed with a cowl induction hood, the Volvo V60 is engineered with a head protecting hood. Keeping pedestrians from slamming their heads on an intake manifold is a good idea, but Volvo went further by adding a revolutionary pedestrian airbag in this area. (But not in the USA.) It’s easy to imagine how this additional space could implement the pressurized airbag seen below.

A few years ago I came within inches of needing something like this, as I was a cyclist that almost became the victim of a frontover accident. The only problem is cars with tall hoods and “head protection” hoods cause a ripple effect elsewhere. (You didn’t ask, but I sold my bicycle on Facebook Marketplace hours after the incident.)

So cars are taller these days, which forces crossover utility vehicles (CUVs) to get even loftier then they were 20 years ago. Trucks, by definition, need to be taller/boxier/more utilitarian than cars and CUVs. My line of reasoning suggests design tweaks found in cars living in densely populated areas in the EU inadvertently participated in the transition from trucks being the approachable “OBS” pickups of the 1990s, into the monsters you see today in America.

Slippery slope design trends and frontover accidents are both complicated subjects (discussed in further detail here) with no easy answer, so let’s get back to the Polestar Wagon.

Behold this nicely integrated side view mirror, because it eliminates the need for DLO FAIL on the A-pillar. The repeater indicator light in the mirror assembly gets larger at the end, which does a good job masking the size of the mirror, much like all the layers of surfacing present on the V60’s fender.

Volvos are generally more concerned with functionality over fashion than your average luxury automaker, but this transition from exposed rain gutter to chunky windshield trim is awkward at best. Even a depreciated Ford Fusion doesn’t need a plastic insert to fit the windscreen to the body, and I struggle to understand why this is needed in our modern age of vehicle construction. (Enlighten me in the comments, won’t you?)

The rest of the roof is smooth, minimalist, and ready for your lifestyle via roof rack addition.

The A-, B-, and C-pillars possess the right amount of visual sleekness and angular rigidity for a modern-day Volvo station wagon. The fixed vent window is pretty large considering the downward curve of the cant rail, but the lower half of the body side explains why this is necessary.

The rear door has an aggressive cut line at the wheel arch that resembles a smirk, with one side of its “face” remaining emotionless, while the other bends skyward. That cut line ensures the rear window must be smaller to successfully roll inside the door. The end result was worth the effort—this Polestar smirks because it knows it’s a beast of a grand tourer lurking underneath that conservative coachwork.

The D-pillar, unlike its adjacent relatives, prioritized sleekness over utility. It is too laid back to provide a cargo area worthy of a vintage station wagon, but Volvo is far from the only automaker guilty of this sin. That’s a shame, because now if you need to carry a lot of boxes, the D-pillars of the world tell you to rent a van instead.

There’s a new class of car these days, as station wagons can now be gran turismos on par with sport coupes and sedans. The extra (D) pillar adds a touch more weight and looks more like an elongated hatchback, but there’s a surprising blend of practicality, performance, and prestige in the V60 Polestar’s proportioning.

Calling the V60 an elongated hatchback makes sense from certain angles, as this window straddles the line between a quarter window and a full-fledged wagon window for kids to enjoy while on a family vacation. The break in the bezel that trims the window is needed to fashion two cheaper trim pieces in lieu of a single part, and that’s expected at this price point. But the Polestar’s blackout finish is intimidating in a Buick Grand National kind of way. (The deep window tinting doesn’t hurt, either.)

Volvo designer Peter Horbury’s legacy of a strong shoulder line is accounted for in this Polestar wagon. The fact that Volvo’s famously long taillights must conform to the shoulder line (and the D-pillar) only makes that legacy even more appealing.

But this is still a modern car with modern-day levels of elevation. That pedestrian-friendly cowl means everything else must be taller to match. The V60 has a subtle bend in the rear bumper to visually reduce some of the height, easily spotted in the dirt lines behind that gloriously flush rear wheel stance. This would be a classically beautiful wagon if the rear bumper ended at that dirt line.

With all this real estate, the signature taillights of these Volvos become a design feature unto themselves. While it looks like the ribbed section at the top would turn into an amber signal light in Europe, that is not the case. The clear lens with an amber signal bulb has a similar ribbing, and it visually hugs the contouring of the tailgate.

But what gets me about these lights is just how sculptural their surfacing is in real life. They rise significantly from the adjacent glass, and sport organic curves just like the shoulders of living creatures. The contrast of hard lines and soft curves point to an attention to detail that Volvo’s competition consistently lacks.

The Polestar’s unique roof spoiler has a modest duck tail, with a hard crease going around its perimeter. This is another example of Volvo’s interest in blending the organic with the architectural, even if it doesn’t scream at you like those red taillights.

But just like those taillights, the spoiler screams details of delight when you inspect it up close. Volvo did a fantastic job recessing a big red light (i.e. CHMSL) in a prominent place, ensuring the spoiler (and the other red lenses) get to show their wares to the viewer.

The elevation of the spoiler (as it were) to recess the CHMSL is further enhanced by that sloping D-pillar, as it allows the rear glass to be “tucked” even deeper into the spoiler.

Much in the way the rear spoiler tucks the back glass behind it, the tailgate tucks inward to sneak an integral door release mechanism, and provides a sunken/flat spot for the license plate. Right on cue, the shoulder line of the body and the turn signal light empathize with the transition point of that tuck.

Upon closer inspection, the “V” in V60 is significantly further away from the “60.” It’s a subtle action, but clearly helps differentiate the letters from the numbers in an alphanumeric name.

Wait, Polestar made a version of the original Ford Focus? Apparently, Ford’s New Edge styling has a legacy almost as strong as Peter Horbury’s broad shoulders. Now we know why Volvo spelled out their name in chrome letters along that mustache over the V60’s license plate, but it was removed by the previous owner in this case. Car styling DNA is a real thing…even at Ford’s formerly highfalutin’ Premier Automotive Group.

It could be worse for Volvo fans, at least your flagship Ford derivative wasn’t a badge-engineered Thunderbird from the same year.

Below that soft-focus tailgate is the requisite bumper shelf. While today’s off-road cosplay CUV has an additional plate with a rubber insert for protection/traction, Volvo had no such trim for the V60. Instead, you see a protective vinyl film with graphics paying homage to that vibe, and it’s a Volvo accessory.

But the rear bumper of this high-performance Volvo clearly isn’t a turn-of-the-century Ford Focus. The diffuser starts with a bang, aggressively jutting out of the bumper’s painted surface. The stout tailpipe is not only sporting a rounded lip, but it also has Polestar branding to become a delightful Easter Egg.

Get to the juicy center of the rear diffuser and the tell tales of aerodynamic finning come into play. The carve-out of negative area in this panel is great for hiding proximity sensors and works well with all the other bits of negative area found elsewhere on the Polestar’s posterior (under the spoiler, license plate well, etc.).

But it always comes back to the shoulder line for this peak-performance Polestar, and every Volvo from the Horbury sphere of influence. From every angle you know this is a Volvo because of those shoulders. (And the taillights that naturally sprout from them.)

While today’s Volvo sedans and station wagons embody a new generation of harder lines and even larger dimensions, they still have the slightest hint of a strong shoulder line. It may not be a Hofmeister Kink, but a strong contour from headlight to taillight appears to still be part of the Volvo experience. Thank goodness for that.

Thank you all for reading, I hope you have a lovely day.