It's pretty telling how Volvo's all-new XC60 crossover was officially introduced to the general public not by a safety engineer, but by a designer. And not just by any designer; Thomas Ingenlath is the official architect of Volvo's recent move towards a new era of stunning Scandinavian aesthetics, which has been a change so radical that it's getting hard to remember that Volvos once had a tunnel-vision that was focused more on safety rather than design.

That was the old Volvo. the new Volvo is now hip, cool, and stylish-focused. According to Yahoo!, the Ingenlath revolution all started with the 2016 XC60 crossover, a muscular beauty with an interior adorned with open-pore wood, smooth materials, and sleek shapes.

The elegant 2017 S90 sedan and V90 wagon also followed the same patterns. Now comes the company's all-new 2018 XC60, which moves the brand's transition from so-so design into sexy-Swede evolution even further.

The 2018 XC60 will be competing with other luxury compact crossovers such as the Audi Q5, Mercedes GLC, BMW X3, and the Porsche Macan. It will go on sale in later this year, replacing a seemingly old vehicle that had been in the U.S. market for over eight years.

Like every new 90-series vehicle, the XC60 is built on Volvo's Scalable Product Architecture program (or SPA). Its advantages were very evident the moment the tarps were pulled off to the sight of three preproduction XC60s shown to the people in the company's design hall in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Volvo's SPA pushes the front wheels farther forward compared to before, improving what designers call the dash-to-axle ratio. This stretches the front end, where the hood is longer and more horizontal, the cabin would sit farther rearward on the car's haunches, and the front overhang is trimmed.

According to Car and Driver, the 2018 XC60 looks almost as if it is a rear-drive vehicle, with very classy premium-car proportions. With its slick and sexy look, there is really no doubt that Volvo has indeed transitioned into the future.

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