There are people high up at Volvo whose hands we really want to shake. While the rest of the industry is going SUV and crossover crazy, Volvo is committed to making station wagons cool again. Speaking to Automotive News, Lex Kerssemakers, CEO of Volvo Car USA said that "Volvo is wagons." The Volvo brand has been on a roll lately with the introduction of the new XC90 SUV and the S90 sedan. These cars ride on Volvo's new architecture, which we've sampled with the S90. Volvo will also make two wagon versions of this platform.
The wagon variant of the S90 is called the V90, and it will be available in the US. Unfortunately, the only way to get one is to special order it from Sweden, so we bet it'll be fairly rare in the US. American dealers, however, will stock a different version of the wagon, called the V90 Cross Country. The Cross Country is basically identical to the regular V90, only with added body cladding and a higher ride height that supports off-road use. The V90 Cross Country has 8.3 inches of ground clearance, which is only an inch less than the XC90 SUV. Volvo seems to be the only automaker that is putting real development dollars into wagons, and the results are fantastic. Now that Volvo has re-established itself, it will only continue to improve.
Stefan Saellqvist, Volvo's global product manager for the 90 series says that the company will now focus on "emotional" and "personalized" design with smaller convenience features. This basically means that Volvo is going nuts by offering nearly Porsche-levels of interior customization. We have already seen Volvo's unique red key option that automatically turns on every safety feature in the car. There will also be unique touches like a hook near the front seat that can be used for grocery bags as well as a tow hitch that can retract when it is not in use. Saellqvist says that the hardest part was narrowing down all of the cool options to offer to buyers.
Wagons won't be "as big as SUVs," Saellqvist said. "But there is a market." We commend Volvo for being the only automaker that is so proud to offer a stunning wagon like the V90 and the V90 Cross Country. Hopefully other automakers and more importantly, American consumers, finally come to their senses and realize how cool wagons are.
