All hail the Beast 2.0

Three years ago Volvo SA embarked on “Project ‘Beast” — a one-off Volvo XC90 D5 Geartronic Inscription model.

It featured dark-matt paint, heavy-duty BF Goodrich rubber and various off-road driving accoutrements — including jerry cans, a spare wheel on the roof and a bright-orange garden spade that matched the slim tangerine-coloured  licks on the bumpers and seat belts.

Now the company has unleashed the Beast 2.0 — based on the recently face-lifted Volvo XC60 T8 R-Design AWD model. Instead of a post-apocalypse style, the project channels a metrosexual dark lord with high-gloss black body wrap, and a grille and side-mirror caps finished in black. It rides on equally black 21-inch, five-spoke diamond-cut alloy wheels.

The front and rear bumpers have slim, yellow detailing, as do the XC60-branded brake calipers and as exterior badging. On the roof is an aerodynamically efficient roof box with yellow Volvo branding.

Inside, the Beast 2.0 is fitted with yellow seat belts, four-zone climate control, a Bowers & Wilkins sound system, head-up display, a 360-degree camera system, and a seat-massage function.

Volvo’s active chassis with air suspension is also equipped, but work has been done to the plug-in hybrid running gear, comprising a 2.0l petrol engine with both a supercharger and turbocharger and also mated to an electric motor.

In standard form, the plug-in hybrid T8 is already the most powerful XC60 yet, delivering outputs of 340kW and 709Nm. With the addition of software from Polestar — Volvo’s performance wing — the Beast 2.0 has even sharper reactions. It results in faster engine response, more rapid gear shifts and better control during cornering, thanks to bespoke, all-wheel drive calibration.

Claimed performance of the standard XC60 model is 0-100km/h in 4.8 secs with a top speed limited to 180km/h as per all new Volvo models. Volvo SA hasn’t tested the Beast 2.0’s performance yet but says there’s an improvement.

The company unveiled the Beast 2.0 at the recent Festival of Motoring at Kyalami raceway, and when revved the car revealed an exhaust malevolence like no other modern Volvo. Thanks to a stainless steel sport exhaust system supplied by Volvo specialists Heico Sportiv, it becomes a raspy street brawler at the switch of a mode button.

The vehicle can travel in total silence in full EV mode for up to 81km.

“The Beast stole the show in 2019 and had us itching to create a follow-up. As was the case with the original, the Volvo team and its suppliers had immense fun putting together Beast 2.0, though this time we thought it fitting to use a powerful electrified model as the base,” says Greg Maruszewski, MD at Volvo Car SA.

The Beast 2.0 isn’t for sale, but the Polestar-engineered optimisation is now available in SA. All Volvo dealerships can install this software, which takes about an hour or it can be combined with the car’s next service.