Volvo’s V90 to boast state of the art self driving tech

Although the first images had leaked onto the internet last week, these are the first official photos of Volvo's crucial new V90 estate. Closely related, hardly surprisingly, to the recently-revealed S90 saloon, Volvo Ireland has confirmed to The Irish Times that both estate and saloon will arrive on the market with cutting-edge automated driving tech as standard.

The Pilot Assist semi-autonomous drive technology will allow both S90 and V90 to essentially drive themselves on motorways and well-marked dual carriageways, although it should be stressed that the cars are not fully autonomous - the driver will still have to maintain gentle pressure on the steering wheel and keep an eye out for any problems on the road. You won’t be able to sit back and read the paper, but the car will keep itself in lane and maintain a safe distance to traffic around you.

Based on the same Scaleable Product Architecture (SPA) as the successful XC90 SUV, the V90 has been designed to offer sleek styling but with the practicality and space for which Volvo estates have long been famed. Mind you, it’s not actually that big inside - Volvo claims maximum seats-down luggage space of 1,526-litres which is a figure easily beaten by both the BMW 5 Series and the outgoing Mercedes-Benz E-Class estate. It remains to be seen if a choice of style over load-carrying substance will bring new buyers to the brand and re-ignite interest in traditional estates; a market segment being heavily squeezed by more fashionable SUVs.

“We have a very strong position in the estate segment,” said Håkan Samuelsson, President and Chief Executive of Volvo Cars. “In many people’s minds we are known as the definitive estate brand. While the Volvo brand today stands for more than estates, we are proud to carry forward this rich heritage with the V90.”

The V90 will get the same choice of engines as the S90 and XC90, which means an entry level D4 diesel with 180hp and 119g/km of Co2. The range-topper will be the all-wheel-drive T8 plugin hybrid, which promises 47g/km, 135mpg and electric-only range of up to 50km.

There will also be a more powerful D5 diesel engine with twin turbos and 232hp, which boasts Co2 emissions of 129g/km. There are T5 and T6 petrol engine options too, but these are not yet confirmed for the diesel-hungry Irish market, although a sporty high performance version, under Volvo’s in-house Polestar brand, will be coming soon.

"We have a very strong offer in the V90. Our PowerPulse technology is designed to deliver a distinct performance boost to our diesel engine, while the T8 Twin Engine petrol plug-in hybrid will deliver around 410 hp and a pure electric range of around 31 miles," said Dr Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President of Research & Development at Volvo Cars.

Volvo is betting big on its 90-series cars and it seems to be a bet which is already paying off. In 2015, the Swedish brand posted record sales (503,127 cars) and record profits (€703 million). That represents a trebling of its profits in 2014, and puts Volvo on a decent footing to achieve its stated aim of reaching 800,000 sales annually by 2020. 2015 was also a record year for Volvo in Ireland, with 1,566 cars sold - a 30 per cent increase on 2014.

Once the 90-series cars are bedded down, Volvo will get on with the task of replacing the rest of its range. The SPA chassis will be able to scrunch down to form the basis of the next-generation of S60, V60 and XC60 (the current models are still based on the Ford-sourced EUCD platform, basically the same as the last-generation Mondeo and S-Max) but it can’t be made small enough to form a replacement for the current V40 compact hatch. That will instead need a new small front-drive platform, currently under development as a joint project with Volvo’s Chinese owners, Geely Automotive.

That will allow the V40 to expand from its current hatchback-only model into a three-tier range, featuring hatch, saloon and crossover. A three-cylinder, 1.5-litre version of both the current 2.0-litre petrol and diesel engine families will also be created for that compact model, and the engine will be used in the 60- and 90-series cars, both with and without hybrid assistance.