Volvo Has No Intention to Kill Its Largest Gas SUV

If memory serves me right, Volvo was the first legacy automaker to announce plans for an all-electric lineup. Revealed in March 2021, the ambitious strategy called for the end of cars with combustion engines by 2030. However, a couple of months ago, the Geely-owned brand revised its overly optimistic goal by saying ICE cars will continue past this decade. Now, we’re learning its thirstiest SUV is here for the long haul.

Speaking with British magazine Auto Express, a Volvo official said the Swedes “will continue updating the XC90 for as long as there is demand.” The brand’s biggest gas SUV is turning 10 next year, following a facelift introduced in 2019 and another update this past September. Although there’s now a fully electric EX90, it’ll peacefully coexist with the gas-guzzling model.

The previous-generation XC90 also had an unusually long life cycle of 14 years. It went on sale in 2002 and wasn’t discontinued until 2016 when the XC Classic was retired from the Chinese market. It looks as though its successor will at least match the extended shelf life of the model before it. Despite getting up there in years, the XC90 remains the company’s third best-selling product, after the cheaper and smaller XC60 and XC40.

According to a company spokesperson cited by Auto Express, the XC90 won’t cannibalize sales of the EX90 because the two SUVs attract different customers. That does make sense in terms of pricing considering the cheapest XC90 costs from $58,695 whereas the EX90 is nearly $23,000 more expensive. A third option would be to get the XC90 plug-in hybrid for $73,195 but it offers only 33 miles of electric range. The electric-only EX90 is estimated to cover as much as 310 miles.

It’s too soon to say whether the XC90 will live to see a third generation. The recent revision tells us that the current model will stick around for a few more years. Volvo says it’ll continue to update the luxobarge, but it could mean a third facelift rather than a completely new vehicle. Considering the newest objective is for plug-in hybrids and EVs to account for 90-100% of total deliveries by 2030, a massive investment in a gas SUV seems unlikely.

This is especially true considering Volvo still wants the European Union to follow its plan to ban the sales of new cars with combustion engines by 2035. Having already ended production of diesel engines, which made the most sense in big and heavy vehicles like the XC90, Volvo believes ICE is living on borrowed time.