Volvo is more renowned for introducing revolutionary safety features than breaking speed records. That was until recently when its performance division Polestar secretly set the fastest four-door sedan lap record at the Nurburgring - no doubt BMW and Mercedes-AMG took notice. Now Polestar is celebrating another milestone, announcing that over 100,000 Volvo cars and SUVs have received powertrain enhancements from the performance brand over the last 20 years.

Polestar cites high demand for Volvo's Drive-E powertrain as a key factor to the milestone. Soon, the all-new Volvo XC60 SUV will also gain the powertrain optimizations when it goes on sale in July to further expand the Polestar range. In the first five months of 2017, over 12,000 cars were optimized by Polestar, representing a growth of over 30 percent compared to last year. "This is an important milestone for Polestar and proof of the increasing demand from performance-oriented Volvo customers around the world," said Johan Lindqvist, Head of Global Sales at Polestar. "We are well on our way to our best year in terms of sales and we have further exciting products just around the corner."

Polestar is slowly gathering pace to catch up with Mercedes-AMG and BMW's M division, but it still has a long way to go before it can match the output of the German giants - Mercedes-AMG is on track to sell 100,000 units this year alone. The current XC60 stands as the most popular model to get the Polestar performance treatment, followed by the XC90 and V60, with China, Sweden and the United States making up the top three markets. Five areas of Volvo's powertrain are affected by the latest Polestar optimization, including engine performance, throttle response, gearshift speed, gear hold functionality and off-throttle response for your driving pleasure.