Volvo has claimed a Nürburgring lap record

Volvo is claiming a Nürburgring lap record. The S60 Polestar saloon has lapped the Nordschleife in 7m 51.110s, making it faster than both the BMW M4 and the old Ford GT.

It was, Volvo’s video claims, a record for “road-legal four-door cars”. Yep, ‘was’. The Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio claims 7m 32s. Which is, y’know, 19 seconds quicker.

The reason? Volvo actually set its record a year ago, it’s only chosen now to reveal the S60’s time, as the video above details.

“Being Swedish we didn’t want to shout about the record,” it says, “just learn from the experience”. The Alfa claimed a 7m 39s back then, it must be said, though the Giulia was a prototype with trick tyres, so presumably not road legal.

As a PR exercise, Volvo’s announcement has left us very befuddled. But it’s not worth ignoring. Because a) the S60 sounds tremendous as it pounds around the ‘Ring, and b) it still makes a Volvo saloon car quicker than a McLaren Mercedes SLR, Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 and a V10 BMW M5.

It does make you wonder why they didn’t just tell us at the time, though…