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Even for conservative Volvo, 12 years was a long wait.
The financial crisis might now be receding into memory, but the lingering effects continue. Volvo, for one, was deeply affected by the downturn, as Ford jettisoned it during the depths of that American company’s problems. The Swedish automaker ended up being purchased by Geely, the up and coming Chinese company, and after several years of management churn, Volvo now seems to be on a stable path, with Swedish management in place and a considerable degree of independence.
Yet for proof of the impact the fiscal turmoil had on Volvo, consider that the XC90 SUV, a stalwart of the lineup, is entering its 12th year of production. Some Japanese carmakers would have covered three model cycles in that time, and even the Germans would have done two. Finally, Volvo is prepping a new-gen XC90, which will go on sale in March of next year. And we just got a taste of the new machine.
We say “taste” because this was definitely not a typical press launch. We spent half a day with the car at a mysterious Volvo facility in northern Sweden, yet all we were allowed to do was ride in it. We also weren’t permitted to publish photos of the car without its Rubbermaid-like camouflage.
But Volvo did let us see the undisguised version, and sit in it. The new one has little in common with the now-hoary current XC90 and its comparatively tailored sheetmetal. Based on the design language introduced by a gorgeous trio of recent concept cars, the next-gen model is slick and smooth with a high hood line and an upright and bluff grille and front end. Volvo wanted to give the new model a more macho look, but it didn’t want the SUV to appear overly aggressive. So it lacks the old XC90’s wedgy profile. Its headlights are horizontal and narrow—a clear separation form the original’s large lighting units. Overall, the new soap-bar smooth XC looks less a bit less distinctive than its predecessor at a time when competitive models are making strong visual statements, but it’s still very handsome.
Interior by Sweden
Inside, the new model moves in a unique, and characteristically Swedish, direction. In place of the platoons of buttons, switches, and knobs that line the central stacks and consoles of some Volvos, the XC90 has a central LCD screen above a single knob flanked by three buttons on each side—plus the start button adjacent to the steering column. It’s very much in the Bang Olufsen “less is more” control philosophy and it looks clean, elegant, and very attractive.
Of course, how it works will depend on the intuitive performance of that LCD screen and here again, Volvo has taken an unusual direction. Unlike every other automaker save Tesla, Volvo has positioned its 9.3-inch touch screen vertically and endowed it with iPad-like operation.
The home screen has four horizontal summary layers—one each for navigation, audio/media, phone, and information. The climate-control system controls are in a narrow band that’s always displayed at the bottom; as soon as you touch a control, the climate system takes over the whole screen to facilitate your inputs.
Otherwise, you can touch one of the four layers to expand it, while leaving narrower layers of the other three displayed on the screen. You can also go full screen with any of the functions. You can pinch, expand, and swipe the screen to do various tasks, and these gestures deliver responses that are slick and smooth, just as they are on the best tablets. Swipe the entire to the side, and you access one of two lateral screens, again as on a tablet. One of them brings up a number of vehicle function buttons, which you can rearrange to suit your taste. The other provides access to any apps you may have installed. We only had a few minutes to play with the system, but it operated without any of the hesitations or delays that often mar automotive touch screens. And all of the touch buttons are large, so they’re easy targets for your fingers. In addition, the XC90 will be among the first vehicles to offer Apple’s iOS CarPlay integration.
The portrait orientation of the touch screen is particularly beneficial to the navigation system because it helps you see more of what lies ahead and it also works well with the parking sensors, as it allows a large vertical display of the car that mirrors the actual car orientation.
The front compartment promises to be finished to a high level, although the samples we saw weren’t fully to production spec. The bottom of the dashboard, as well as the top, was molded from soft plastic, and the parts of the console where you knees touch are also upholstered in softer material. The center console has nice sliding covers to hide the requisite device and power outlets, as well as the cup holders—to maintain a “clean” design ethic. But the storage under the armrest is not huge. On the other hand, the glove box is very useful, as Volvo uses an electric latch to eliminate the mechanical-type units that steal space and scrunch papers.
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