Volvo S60 - its sportiest model yet

These are the first official pictures of the Volvo S60 – the sportiest car in the Swedish firm’s recent history.

There are some radical changes at the front – for a Volvo – with more curves than we’ve seen before and a new grille design.

Highlighting its sporting intent there’s a trapezoidal lower front grille and two air intakes under the headlights to feed air to the engine and front brakes.

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The headlights sweep further back and there’s a strong shoulder line running the whole length of the car.

Look carefully and there’s even a power bulge in the bonnet.

Safety is still king though – the Volvo S60 will have Pedestrian Detection, which can identify a person in the road and brake the car automatically if the driver fails to react in time.

The finished product will be unveiled to the public at the Geneva motor show in March and production will begin in summer 2010 at Volvo’s factory in Belgium.

Unfortunately no pictures of the rear of the Volvo S60 or interior have been released yet.