Volvo announced yesterday that it’s pulling the plug on the S60 sedan. The car, which counted among its direct rivals the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, is bowing out after 24 years on the market in North America.
In the United States, the car has been manufactured at Volvo's Ridgeville plant in South Carolina for the past five years. Production of the model will cease in June. The EX90 electric SUV will replace it on the assembly line.
The S60 wasn't exactly the best-selling car in Canada (324 units in 2022, 515 in 2023), but it's still sad to see another sedan disappear. In the U.S., Volvo never sold more than 20,000 units a year, with an average of 10,000 to 12,000 sold annually. By comparison, BMW and Mercedes-Benz each sell over 30,000 units a year of their competing sedans in the U.S.
Volvo’s decision is understandable, first of all because of those anemic sales figures, but also since the automaker’s electric shift is revving up. And in the long term, we can guess that it will reap more profits from sales of the EX90 than of the S60.
Volvo made no mention in its announcement of the V60 wagon, which is built in Sweden rather than North America. We're guessing it will remain in the catalog for the time being, but we'll have to keep an eye on what the future holds for it. Considering the brand's all-electric shift, it's likely to suffer the same fate in the medium term, though it could return in electric form.
