Here’s something you don’t see every day: a tuning company releasing a special edition model in honor of one of its partners. In this case, the tuner is Heico Sportiv, the partner is Pirelli and the car, the new Volvo V40 compact hatchback.
Heico Sportiv said it created the V40 Pirelli Edition on the occasion of Pirelli’s 50 years in Germany and 110 years of tireworks in Breuberg, where the Italian tire-maker has a factory. Heico Sportiv and Pirelli have been partners since 2009.
The V40 Pirelli Edition is finished in black with contrasting red stripes running under the doors and the front apron, and Pirelli badges, with Heico Sportiv adding a front spoiler and a diffusor-look rear skirt with new quad tailpipes. The hatch rides on a 30mm lowered suspension and 19-inch alloy wheels that are (unsurprisingly, of course) wrapped in 235/35R19 Pirelli P Zeros.
The same two-tone color theme continues inside with red seams on the sport steering wheel, gear-shift and hand brake handle, while other upgrades include the piano-black speedometer casing and central console, and the velour floor mats with embossed tire-tread profiles.
While the Heico Sportiv package for the Pirelli special edition model can be optionally combined with other engine and fitting configurations, this particular model uses the 1.6-liter turbocharged gasoline engine that has been tuned to boost output from the stock 148hp (150PS) and 240Nm (177 lb-ft) to 197hp (200PS) and 300Nm (221 lb-ft).
As a result, the V40 T3 Pirelli Edition completes the standard 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint in 7.9 seconds and tops out at 230km/h (143mph), instead of 8.8 seconds and 210km/h (136mph).
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