New Volvo XC90 breaks cover

The next-generation Volvo XC90 is slowly taking shape, with photos of the large SUV revealing a progressive new design for the European car maker's premium load lugger.

Showing off an aggressive new 'face' that appears to take a leaf from Audi's 'tough-but-elegant' design book, the photos of the second-generation XC90 were taken during the launch of another upcoming model in the form of the Volvo Concept Coupe and published on Swedish website Feber.se.

The new XC90 will be the first car from Volvo based on its scalable product architecture (SPA) and is expected to hit the road in the latter part of 2014, and has clear visual links with the Volvo Concept Coupe. This can be seen most clearly in the striking T-shaped LED daytime running lights that bisect the headlights. Even the XC90's grille treatment and lower valance share design cues with Volvo's sleek new coupe.

The rear end photo shows only a small section of the car's tail end, but it's clear the brake light motif reflects the car's upmarket design direction while retaining the first-generation XC90's vertical LED alignment.

Only a close up image of the SUV's infotainment screen shows what we can expect of the interior, revealing a minimalistic control layout.

After launching in Europe in the latter part of 2014, the second-generation XC90 is tipped to arrive in Australia in the first half of 2015, and will pitched as a more economical offering than it has been previously.

Incorporating aluminium body panels and chassis parts, Volvo's large SUV could be up to 150kg lighter than the current model, which together with frugal four-cylinder engines will help reduce the car's carbon footprint.

All this technology won't come cheap, however. The new model is likely to be more expensive than the existing (and almost 10-year-old) Volvo XC90, which is currently priced between $69,000 and $75,990.

"At this stage we can't comment about the future stuff..." replied Volvo Australia MD Matt Braid, when asked about the XC90 during the launch of the new V40 Cross Country, but the Volvo boss did offer that the introduction of a new XC90 in 2015 would be "an exciting period for us."

The current model is still selling well, according to Braid, and has been a consistently strong offering in the local product range for some years now.

"In 2012 we sold six units less than we did in 2011... and up to that point it had been increasing every year. So this year we should finish with 1100, 1200 cars. So it's still strong, which highlights as a car [it's] well packaged, well priced, and as a family car it's not the latest and greatest, but it fills that purpose pretty well, even today."

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