Ed's Blog: A case for the modern wagon

I've just returned from a flying visit to Sweden — where the wagon-to-sedan ratio is off the planet – and it only took me about 10km of the main road out of Gothenburg to realise why the journey was less stressful.

For one I had more than 500Nm of Volvo Polestar turbo twist to make overtaking a breeze. But the key reason was I could see past the car in front — because it was a normal-height wagon, not a bloody jacked-up soft-roader.

As in many European countries, wagons outnumber sedans and SUVs on Sweden's roads by a huge margin. While SUVs could soon account for half of all BMWs sold in Australia, in Sweden BMW 3 and 5 Series Tourings outsell their sedan and X-badged crossover counterparts by a factor of five. The same goes for Audis, Benzes, Hyundais (i40) and, of course, the local favourite.

The latest wagons from all of these brands (and others) are as civilised and wieldy as their sedan counterparts, but deliver an added level of versatility that matches similarly sized SUVs, which are generally heavier and less efficient.

The latest V60 is a case in point – it offers all the refinement of the S60 sedan with the ability to chuck big square things in the back. And there's more room on the roof to boot. So to speak...

In Polestar trim it's a Q-ship of epic potential. But Down Under the same could be said of a well-optioned V8 Holden Commodore wagon – at about half the price of the hot-rodded Ovlov.

It's perhaps not surprising then that Volvo's CEO Hakan Samuelsson is a big wagon fan. His car of choice? A black V60 Polestar. It has a few extra tweaks too, on the QT.

And he's as perplexed as I am when it comes to wagon sales, or more particularly the lack thereof, in markets like the USA and Australia. His viewpoint on what could turn the tide is interesting.

"I think it's difficult to reverse [the shift to SUVs], but I try always to promote [wagons] when I am in the US.

"If you take sedan customers [for example] — I mean there are hundreds of sedans [models on sale] in the US and also in China.

"Why don't you go to those customers when they come in and say 'I want an S60' [and say] 'Oh, come over here, look at this one here. We have a sport wagon here'?"

Samuelsson suggests new-vehicle buyers don't have an appreciation of how far wagons have evolved. He uses his own V60 as an example.

"It's not what they think is a wagon – it's a very sporty car.

"I think it looks fantastic. And it's the same size as an S60, but you can put in some golf clubs – what's wrong with that?

"Plus you have something different from an Audi A4 or a Mercedes."

Putting aside the gratuitous Volvo plug for a moment, I can't help but agree with Samuelsson, a Volvo board member that stepped back into an operational role to help rescue the Swedish marque.

His vision for the wagon's future is one that only strengthens the case for Aussies to take another look at this alternate style of five-door. It also perhaps telegraphs from what you can expect from the next generation of big Volvo wagon – the replacement for the V70.

"Let the SUV still be there for the families," says Samuelsson. "[But] I think the wagon could come back [if it was considered] as a more functional 'sedan'..."