Volvo icons may disappear

VOLVO, once “boxy, but safe” and epitomised by its functional 240 wagon of the 1980s, may be turning its back on its sedan and wagon heritage in favour of SUVs.

It has admitted that sales of the sedan and wagon models are falling, leading to the UK distributor this week pulling the rug from those models and concentrating on the SUVs.

It no longer sells the S90 sedan in the UK and dealers will now stop taking orders for the S60, V60 and V90 models.

The move is attributed in part to the expanding SUV line up from Volvo – and repeated by other manufacturers – and to the runout of internal-combustion engine (ICE) models and their dedicated platforms. No car-maker, as yet, has an EV wagon in its range.

Volvo has pledged to make a new model every year for the next five years on its journey to make EVs represent half its sales by 2025 and then abandon ICEs from 2030. That also means new platforms made specifically for electrification.

In Australia, Volvo told GoAuto that it is not following the UK lead – at least not yet.

“For us (for now) the (sedan and wagon) models remain part of the model line-up,” said Volvo Australia spokesperson, Greg Bosnich.

“We always continue to evaluate our product portfolio to suit the local market conditions and consumer demand and endeavour to offer as many of our models for local consumption.

“As we head toward executing our all-electric car company (in Australia by 2026) model line-up could look different in the future.”

Volvo itself is coy about dropping its once bread-and-butter models. It said a decision was imminent about the future but at the same time has shown concept sedans and wagons.

Its Australian line up currently consists of the S60 sedan; V60 Cross Country wagon; and four SUVs: C40, XC40, XC60 and XC90. It will add the EX90 and EX30 to complement its other full EVs, the C40 and XC40 Recharge.

In the UK, Volvo said its demand for sedan and wagon models had fallen to “very low levels” and, of the 25,000 new Volvo vehicles sold in the first half of 2023, accounted for less than 10 per cent of sales.