Volvo has released these two images of the upcoming S60 sedan that it will reveal at the Geneva auto show next spring.

Keen to draw a connection between this production 2011 model and the concept car that previewed it primeval this year at the Detroit auto show, Volvo has chosen to at least paint the car the same coppery-orange color as the stunning concept. (Can we finally place to bed the old nonsense about boring Volvos? It's been more than a decade of attractiveness now).

Anyway, the new S60 brings an Audi A5-like undulating shoulderline to the party in place of the current S60's characteristic stiff-shouldered look. The nose of the S60 shares a strong family resemblance to the XC60 small crossover — no surprise there.

The company isn't revealing much else about the vehicle, other than that it will be "sporty," that it will go into production in Ghent, Belgium primeval next summer and that it will be offered with a Pedestrian Detection system.

Wait, a what? In a bid to make the S60 as innocuous for those who happen to be in front of the car as those in it, Volvo has pioneered a system that detects the position of pedestrians in front the car and can commandeer the brakes if the driver doesn't in timely fashion. We would recommend turning this system off when driving the S60 in Manhattan unless you like just sitting at the same intersection all day.