Volvo-S90

Poll results: New Volvo S90 debuts

The votes are in, and it seems that the majority of you are very bullish on the S90’s prospects. This is interesting in the context of the kind of cars the S90 would have to beat on its way to sales of 40,000+ between the US and Europe: Jaguar XF, Lexus GS, maybe even Audi A6 in the US. What’s more, to get any sort of volume in the US the S90 would actually have to sell at least as well as its V70/XC70 sibling, which seems unlikely given that those models represent the concentrated essence of Volvo in the US. But, time will tell – we’ll be giving you updates throughout 2016.

  1. You sometimes have to wonder what the game changer is in this sector. The first S80 was a handsome, very comfortable and reasonably priced car. The replacement I called Europe’s last beautiful saloon. Ignored. This car has a style quite unlike any of its peers but will customers in this class notice? They are incredibly conservative and have been for two or three decades.

  2. Somehow Volvo always manages to be “best of the rest” in Europe, behind the German Big 3, except in midsized crossovers, where the XC60 actually outsells its German (and British) competitors. But Volvo is also mostly known for its station wagons, so the V70 (which was basically the wagon version of the S80 series II) has consistently outsold the S80.
    Now that it’ll be a stand-alone model again, and with a larger station wagon V90 added, I think it should be able to return to its former glory. Thanks to the Chinese…..

  3. Years ago Volvo stated not wanting to be in the same ‘premium’ category as BMW, Jaguar and others. Great move, because in this way they are able to maintain their position as a dynamic brand. On the one hand they can compete with mainstream brands and at the same time they can hurt brands at the top end of the market. Unfortunately, as Richard already mentioned, buyers of luxury cars are very conservative and assign BMW more status (old habits die hard). So the S90 will never outsell a 5 series although it could be the better car.

    I wonder who came up with the term “German Big 3”. In my opinion BMW en Mercedes-Benz are the top brands from Germany, but not Audi which is a mix of cheaper/more expensive cars of every other brand within VAG.

  4. I feel like Volvo has the same special position as the “best of the rest” in Europe that Lexus has in the US. Is there a connection? I feel both offer a credible alternative to the “German Big 3” (sorry, Losange 🙂 that is less sporty and pretentious, while still offering a distinctive USP (in Volvo’s case that used to be safety, now arguably also a chic style; in Lexus’ case that would be Hybrid tech). That is why, I feel, the likes of Jaguar, Infiniti and Cadillac will struggle to catch up to the market leaders – they don’t really offer that much that’s different.

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