Pictured above is the Volvo C30 R-Design, and as the name suggests, it’s a product of Volvo’s R-Design division. Not that long ago though, R was a performance division of Volvo and not a design division. They produced some great cars, but in 2007, Volvo dropped the brand and replaced it with the R-Design division.

The problem was the image of Volvo. The average Volvo customer isn’t interested in a performance car, and if you’re in the market for a sports car, Volvo is among the last words to pop into your head. Not many people bought these brilliant cars, they were too underrated. Volvo sold less than a third of the R performance cars than they had hoped to sell.

When talking with Swedespeed, Volvo’s North American chief Doug Speck hinted at the revival of the R performance range. He said that rather than aiming at the top of the line tuners like AMG and the M-division, this range would aim at medium-level performers like Audi’s S range of cars.

This is good news, and just in time, as the upcoming Volvo S60 could really use a touch of performance. Hopefully they will decide to revive the range.

Source: Swedespeed via MotorAuthority