The Volvo S90 luxury sedan will make its debut at the 2016 Detroit auto show in January, the Swedish automaker confirmed today. Though we still won’t see the full car for some time, Volvo also released two teaser sketches previewing the shape of the S90.
The Volvo S90 is the next new model in Volvo’s product offensive, following the XC90 crossover. Like the XC90, the Volvo S90 will be built on the company’s Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) flexible chassis. As both these images and our earlier spy photos and leaked scale-models show, the Volvo S90 will have a traditional long-hood luxury-sedan silhouette, with proportions bringing to mind rivals like the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, and Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
The “Thor’s Headlights” running-light treatment deployed on the XC90 can be seen up front, a graceful curve to the roofline likely aids aerodynamics, and a traditional sedan-like trunklid completes the car. The car’s taillights appear to have a stacked design, with thin LED bars stretching toward the center of the car.
In the U.S., the Volvo S90 will most likely offer the same turbo- and supercharged 2.0-liter inline-four Drive-E engine as the XC90, in which that mill makes 315 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. We can also expect a version with Volvo’s T8 plug-in hybrid powertrain. Both front- and all-wheel-drive models should be available.
Expect the Volvo S90 to continue to offer a long list of active-safety equipment as Volvo strides toward its goal of avoiding any deaths or injuries in a new Volvo by 2020. The company is putting a small fleet of self-driving XC90s to the test in Sweden starting in 2017, as it continues its push to launching autonomous cars.
Following the launch of the S90, Volvo will launch the V90, a wagon version of the luxury sedan that leaked photos of scale models indicate will adopt many of the S90’s design cues, but with a long and tall roofline that leads into a sloped rear window. Expect the final car to draw inspiration from the Volvo Concept Estate shown at the 2014 Geneva auto show.
Volvo also said today it is working with Microsoft to use the software company’s HoloLens virtual-reality glasses to visualize cars virtually. The idea is that customers could “see” the Volvo S90 in three dimensions before the car even starts production. In one of the photos showing how the system might work (above), a wireframe model appears to also show the S90.
