In 2017 Volvo S90 was revealed earlier this week at the Volvo Cars headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. While we were able to bring you a First Look on the S80 replacement, Volvo was a bit lighter on details than we would have liked. To round it out, I spent an afternoon and evening chatting with Volvo U.S. president Lex Kerssemakers, senior vice president of research and development Dr. Peter Mertens, and senior vice president of design Thomas Ingelnlath, who chatted with me about the S90 and Volvo’s plans for the future.An updated version of Volvo’s Pilot Assist semi-autonomous tech will be standard on S90s here in the ‘States. Unlike the older version of Pilot Assist currently found on the XC90, the newer version can function at speeds up to 80 mph as opposed to 30 mph, and no longer needs a car in front to follow, as it will read lane markers on the road. XC90 buyers who feel like they’re missing out on the semi-self-driving goodness will be able to upgrade their vehicles at a later date.
Volvo’s plans for the immediate future go far beyond rounding out the 90 series with the V90 and V90 Cross Country. Next year, Volvo is planning on tackling its 60 series lineup with an all-new S60, V60, and XC60. The 60 series will be the smallest family of vehicles on Volvo’s Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), and it’ll be powered by Volvo’s now-familiar 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine family, as well as a new 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine family, which will include a plug-in hybrid variant. The new turbocharged I-3 will also make its way under the hood of the S90, though we may not get that powertrain in the United States.Continue Reading
