Volvo reviewing sedan and wagon future

The shape of Volvo’s global product range hangs in the balance.

Indeed, while a widening of its range of SUVs is certain, the future of the Swedish brand’s sedans and signature estates post mid-decade is currently under consideration – and far from certain.

Volvo Cars global chief Jim Rowan confirmed the launch date of the new ‘30’ series compact SUV during his recent visit to Australia.

But the former tech industry exec stopped short of delivering clarity on the future of the brand’s sedans and wagons, which currently include the Volvo S60 sedan and V60 Cross Country wagon sold in our market.

Overseas countries also offer the larger S90 sedan and V90 wagon, which are no longer available here.

“I’m looking at that right now, to be honest,” Rowan stated when quizzed by carsales.

“You know, you can say, basically: ‘Let’s just go electrify the XC series’ ... [But] we’re looking at what’s next.

“Right now, we’re obviously designing cars that takes us out to mid-decade and then we start designing the new range.

“That’s [what] we’re looking at now.”

Rowan said the move to a pure-electric line-up – which Volvo will achieve in Australia by 2026, four years before the Swedish car-maker stops selling combustion-engined cars worldwide – may change conventional size segments.

But the same technological evolution should give designers a freer hand.

He’s also reluctant to desert segments in which Volvo has been traditionally strong.

“When you’ve got your flat skateboard [electric vehicle architecture] and you have no ICE engine, the internal space is massive compared to what it used to be,” Rowan said.

“So the internal space then for a C-segment [mid-size] or a D-segment [large car] becomes bigger than it used to be. You get this internal [space] benefit that the designers are trying to figure out to best use.

“[But] the big question is how long will the SUV be the dominant?

“If you look at Northern Europe, Northern Europe’s been a really strong wagon market for us, whereas in China the sedan market is really strong.

“So, when we’re making those choices about what cars we’re going to bring out ... you’re trying to build a global car, obviously, to drive the volume and the leverage and the benefits of that [volume], but you also need to [meet] spot market demands,” Rowan explained.

“[But] if you’re known and you have a position, let’s say with the wagon in Europe or the sedan in China, you don’t want to let that go.

“So those are the tough design choices that we need to make and we’ve got to balance that out with the investments that we need to make [to create a cross-section of body styles],” he said.

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