USA - At long last the Volvo V90 Wagon has appeared in the USA with its debut at the NAIAS.

The Volvo V90 is coming to the United States in 2017 and builds on over 60 years of wagon heritage that started with the Volvo Duett. The V90 will make its North American debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and will be available as a model year 2018 later this year.

“Wagons are an important part of Volvo’s history” said Lex Kerssemakers, President and CEO of Volvo Car USA, “after successfully launching the XC90 SUV, S90 sedan and most recently V90 Cross Country, we complete our 90 range with the introduction of our new luxury wagon.”

The V90 has received international praise for its combination of style and utility. Based on the new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) and the new Volvo design language, the V90 will share interior design attributes with the award-winning XC90, such as the 12” Sensus Connect Touchscreen, open-pore wood trim and Nappa leather. Like the S90 the V90, drivers can expect the feeling of relaxed confidence and sedan-like driving dynamics with the storage capability of a crossover.

The V90 will be available with both T5 FWD and T6 AWD powertrains in either Inscription or R-Design trim. To provide a full range of options and personalization, the V90 will be sold exclusively as custom order vehicles starting soon via Volvo’s Online Concierge or Overseas Delivery. Both options offer unique buying experiences. Vehicles will be delivered to customers in summer 2017.

"The V90 is a fantastic vehicle for the true wagon enthusiast. As we now introduce the most luxurious wagon ever, we choose to do so giving our customers a range of personalized customer order production alternatives like the Volvo online concierge and Overseas Delivery. This way we provide the fullest range of options to wagon lovers" said Kerssemakers.

With Volvo Concierge, customers can choose the vehicle’s features online with a Volvo representative, who will personally guide customers through the ordering process. The vehicle will be delivered to their local Volvo retailer where customers can complete the purchase.  With Overseas Delivery, customers can pick the color, interior, trim and engine with their Volvo retailer and receive two paid airline tickets and hotel accommodations to pick up the vehicle at Volvo’s Torslanda, Sweden factory.

“Luxury buyers seek to fully customize their vehicle while enjoying a personalized experience,” said Bodil Eriksson, Vice President, Product, Marketing and Communication. “The Volvo V90 attracts buyers who are determined to oversee every detail and customer order production via Concierge allows them to realize this.”

Currently, the S90 sedan, XC90 Excellence and S60 and V60 Polestar can be ordered through Volvo Concierge. The V90 wagon is the first carline exclusively available through Volvo Concierge or Overseas Delivery. Pricing and trim details will be announced next month.

With the debut of the V90 wagon at NAIAS, it will mark the first time the entire Volvo 90 series is shown together in its entirety in North America: the XC90 SUV, S90 sedan and V90 Cross Country

Volvo Car UK has imprved further its top range of cars with the addition of Android Auto.

• Android Auto joins existing Apple CarPlay smartphone integration
• Allows users to access their Android phone’s functions directly from the car’s Sensus infotainment system
• Available now on all S90, V90, V90 Cross Country and XC90 models

Volvo Car UK has further improved its in-car connectivity with the introduction of Android Auto smartphone integration to its range-topping 90 series models.

Android Auto, which is now available as part of a new Smartphone Integration package that also includes Apple CarPlay, allows users of Android smartphones to connect their device directly to their Volvo’s Sensus media system. 

A wide range of Android-optimised apps – including Google Maps and Google Play Music – are then available directly via the car’s touch screen. Users can also make and receive calls, and send and receive text messages using Android Auto. 

Alternatively, these functions can be controlled using the car’s or the phone’s sophisticated voice control system, so users can stay connected while keeping their eyes safely on the road at all times.

Thanks to the touch screen’s large size and portrait layout, the Android Auto apps are displayed in the bottom section of the screen, leaving the top of the screen free to display the car’s other main functions, further enhancing the system’s ease of use.

Jon Wakefield, Managing Director of Volvo Car UK, said: “It’s more important than ever for our customers to stay connected while on the move. Our Apple CarPlay integration was already the best in the business, and the introduction of Android Auto brings our class-leading smartphone integration to a whole new audience.”

Smartphone Integration includes a second USB socket and is available now on the S90, V90, V90 Cross Country and XC90, priced at £300. Existing owners of these models (those built after April 2016) who already have Apple CarPlay can benefit from a complimentary upgrade to Smartphone Integration as part of their car’s routine servicing schedule at an authorised Volvo dealership.

Android Auto is available on any Android smartphone running 5.0 (Lollipop) or higher.

For more information on the Volvo range and Android Auto, please visit www.volvocars.com/uk/about/our-innovations/connected-car/smartphone-integration

The 90 Series of volvo models are having a big update in safety, powertrain and connectivity to make them even better.

Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, has announced several important updates to its 90 series cars, delivering new safety, powertrain and connectivity options.

The Swedish car maker's smartphone integration offer, which already includes Apple CarPlay, will now come with Android Auto functionality in Volvo's large driver interface.

"Volvo Cars is the only car maker with a split-screen interface that allows you to use both your smartphone functionality and your in-car features without changing views. This is primarily a safety-related feature, designed to make our interface the easiest to use on the market.

In the same way, our Over-The-Air update capability means that you will always have the latest map updates to hand," said Dr Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President Research & Development at Volvo Car Group.

Delivering seamless smartphone integration that covers mainstream smartphone operating systems, Volvo's 90 series cars will also now feature a clever Over-The-Air navigation system update, which ensures that the car always has the latest maps on board.

Safety

For the Swedish and Norwegian markets, Volvo Cars has also applied its safety thinking to the connected car, delivering two new connected safety systems that will make their debut in the S90, V90 and XC90: Slippery Road Alert and Hazard Light Alert, which use the cloud to share safety-critical data between cars.

"Today's Volvos contain many safety sensors. We believe that sharing safety-related information – whether around conditions or hazards on the road ahead – is a thoughtful and useful way to use the information the car is already gathering," added Dr Peter Mertens. "With Connected Safety, Volvo Cars is helping to define a completely new type of road safety system."

Volvo Cars' Scalable Product Architecture, upon which the 90 series and coming 60 series models will be built, means that new safety systems can be added across the range of cars built on the platform with little or no delay.

Slippery Road Alert increases the driver's awareness of both current road conditions and those on the road ahead, by anonymously collecting road surface information from cars farther ahead on the road and warning drivers approaching a slippery section of road in advance.

Hazard Light Alert forewarns drivers of vehicles that have activated their hazard warning lights on the road ahead, providing the driver with enough time to slow down. This is particularly useful on blind corners and over the crest of hills in the road. These two new connected safety systems will go live in Sweden and Norway initially, with a planned roll-out to other markets.

Powertrain updates

In addition to delivering updated connectivity and safety, Volvo Cars has also added several new Drive-E powertrain variants, delivering an attractive balance of fuel economy and driveability. The D3 four-cylinder diesel engine, coupled to a new six-speed manual transmission, will deliver fuel economy of 4.3 l/100 km in the S90 with CO₂ emissions down to 114 g/km. A new six-speed automatic transmission coupled to the D3 will deliver 114 g/km of CO₂ and 4.3 l/100 km. The D3 will also now be available with All-Wheel Drive.

There are no plans to offer the D3 in UK versions of the 90 series cars.

Design

A new exterior colour, Maple Brown, has been introduced to the S90 and V90 as part of this 90 series model update.

The updated models will go into production in mid-November.

LA SHOW - Volvo launches the new V90 Cross Country and the Polestar S60 and V60 gets a huge boost too.

The 2017 Volvo V90 Cross Country wagon made its first auto show appearance today, alongside the 2017 V60 Polestar wagon, at the Los Angeles Auto Show’s Automobility LA.

The eagerly awaited V90 Cross Country completes Volvo’s 90 Series line-up, while significant improvements have been made to both the S60 and V60 Polestars over the 2016 model, most notably a 362 horsepower version of Volvo’s Drive-E powertrain.

California is the world’s top market for Polestar vehicle sales, with Los Angeles alone accounting for 64 percent of sales in the state so far this year. California also ranks number two in U.S. Cross Country vehicle sales.

“The Americas markets, particularly the U.S. and especially the Western region, are very strong for both Cross Country and Polestar,” said Lex Kerssemakers, Senior Vice President, Americas, and President and CEO, Volvo Cars USA. 

“The V90 Cross Country is the perfect luxury get-away car, as capable and comfortable on the daily commute as it is taking the family hiking or skiing. Polestars are driver’s cars for the educated enthusiast seeking something unique.” 

V90 CROSS COUNTRY

Since the introduction of the first Cross Country almost 20 years ago, Volvo Cars has become synonymous with the rugged all-road, all-weather product category, with a growing stable of Cross Country models.

Volvo Cars’ Cross Country models fulfil an increasingly important part of the Swedish automaker’s product portfolio as luxury car buyers seek out a more experienced-based lifestyle that occasionally takes them off the beaten track.

With some of the harshest winters on the planet and over 77 percent of the country covered in forest and lakes, Sweden is the natural place to develop and test extreme durability and all-weather capable cars. This hard-won expertise represents a large part of Volvo Cars’ heritage, reflected in the company’s Cross Country model line-up. 

“Our cars are well known for their safety, strength and durability. With All-Wheel Drive, increased ride height, and a chassis optimized for comfort and control in all weather and road conditions, the new V90 Cross Country takes our versatile V90 estate and adds the heart of an explorer,” said Dr. Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President Research & Development at Volvo Cars.

With Volvo Cars’ Scalable Product Architecture providing the underpinnings, the V90 Cross Country has undergone rigorous testing to ensure that it can survive the extremes in which it will ultimately find itself.

From secret testing facilities in the frozen north of Sweden, where temperatures regularly hit -40 degrees to the searing desert heat of Arizona, where Volvo Cars performs its high temperature testing program, the V90 Cross Country has been built to last.

With a design that clearly stands out from the crowd, the V90 Cross Country’s rugged character belies a sumptuous interior that delivers a level of luxury uncommon in the segment, combining all the benefits of the connectivity and entertainment features that were launched with the new S90 and V90, including a high-end sound system by Bowers & Wilkins.

 The V90 Cross Country’s exterior design cues communicate the powerful and dynamic capability that the car exemplifies, while offering the flexibility to choose from both rugged and elegant expressions.

“Designing a Volvo Cross Country is not a styling exercise, a plastic job. It is based on honest capability. The Volvo V90 Cross Country brings a surprising and intriguing combination of a strong, powerful exterior and a luxurious, Scandinavian interior. It will continue the genuine tradition of the Volvo Cross Country with a new recipe: The blend of powerful off-road capability in a most elegant, sophisticated, tailored wagon suit,” said Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President Design at Volvo Cars.

The new V90 Cross Country takes this well-established segment to a new level of comfort-inspired capability. Production of the car is set to start this autumn at Volvo Cars Torslanda Plant in Sweden.

S60 AND V60 POLESTAR  

Polestar uses proven motorsport technology and experience to build road cars that deliver a confident, precise and exhilarating driving experience.

Polestars are vehicles with real world drivability – a Volvo performance car for all roads, all seasons, on any day.

The 2017 Polestars are the quickest cars Volvo has ever made – the new 362hp Polestar S60 sedan and V60 wagon.

Both cars make the zero-to-60 mph sprint in as little as 4.4 seconds with a (limited) top speed of 155 mph, powered by a specially-enhanced version of Volvo’s award-winning four cylinder Drive-E powertrain.

Polestar has taken an original two-liter Drive-E engine from standard V60 and S60 models and added a bigger turbo, a supercharger, new conrods, new camshafts, a larger air intake and a higher capacity fuel pump to augment the engine, and matched it with a BorgWarner four-wheel drive system and the new Polestar-optimized eight-speed Geartronic automatic gearbox.

On top of this new performance-optimized equipment, Polestar has reduced the car’s weight. The Volvo S60 and V60 Polestar are 53 pounds lighter over the front axle and 44 pounds lighter in total compared to the previous model years.

These two new models also mark the globalization of the Polestar brand.

The first road legal Polestar cars were launched in 2014 to limited markets. Today, Polestar is expanding the number of markets where Polestar cars will be sold, from 13 to 47 and doubling production volume from 750 cars a year up to 1500.

About 200 units have been allocated for the Americas markets.

Both cars trace their heritage to the new Volvo S60 Polestar TC1, the all-new FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) race car from Polestar Cyan Racing. The new road cars use the same base chassis, engine and philosophy of the team behind the development.

The race and road car feature a further developed four-cylinder Drive-E engine, with the two-liter, twin charged engine of the Volvo S60 and V60 Polestar producing 362 horsepower (SAE) and 347 foot pounds in U.S. spec.

Despite the increased performance, fuel consumption and emissions are at an EPA-rated 20 mpg city and 27 mpg highway (23 combined), further proving the efficiency of Volvo’s Drive-E powertrain.

Part of the improved performance and especially handling compared to the previous model years is an optimized weight distribution.

Other new features on the cars include a new 20” lightweight rim, Polestar calibrated electro-assisted power steering and a new slotted brake disc of 371 millimeters.

Volvo launches the next stage of it's 90 Series cars, the V90 Cross Country.

Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, has unveiled the eagerly awaited V90 Cross Country, completing its 90 series line-up.

Since the introduction of the first Cross Country almost 20 years ago, Volvo Cars has become synonymous with the rugged all-road, all-weather product category, with a growing stable of Cross Country models.

Volvo Cars’ Cross Country models fulfil an increasingly important part of the Swedish brand’s product portfolio as luxury car buyers seek out a more experienced-based lifestyle that occasionally takes them off the beaten track.

“The V90 Cross Country takes the elegance of the V90 and transforms it into an all-road car that delivers safety, comfort and performance in a capable and adventurous package,” said Håkan Samuelsson, President & CEO, Volvo Car Group.

With some of the harshest winters on the planet and more than 77 per cent of the country covered in forest and lakes, Sweden is the natural place to develop and test extreme durability and all-weather-capable cars. This hard-won expertise represents a large part of Volvo Cars’ heritage, reflected in the company’s Cross Country model line-up.

“Our cars are well known for their safety, strength and durability. With All-Wheel Drive, increased ride height and a chassis optimised for comfort and control in all weather and road conditions, the new V90 Cross Country takes our versatile V90 estate and adds the heart of an explorer,” said Dr Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President Research & Development at Volvo Cars.

With Volvo Cars’ Scalable Product Architecture providing the underpinnings, the V90 Cross Country has undergone rigorous testing to ensure that it can survive the extremes in which it will ultimately find itself.

From secret testing facilities in the frozen north of Sweden, where temperatures regularly hit -40 degrees centigrade, to the searing desert heat of Arizona, where Volvo Cars performs its high-temperature testing program, the V90 Cross Country has been built to last.

With a design that clearly stands out from the crowd, the V90 Cross Country’s rugged character belies a sumptuous interior that delivers a level of luxury uncommon in the segment, combining all the benefits of the connectivity and entertainment features that were launched with the new S90 and V90, including a high-end sound system by Bowers & Wilkins.

The V90 Cross Country’s exterior design cues communicate the powerful and dynamic capability that the car exemplifies, while offering the flexibility to choose from both rugged and elegant expressions.

“Designing a Volvo Cross Country is not a styling exercise, a plastic job. It is based on honest capability. The Volvo V90 Cross Country brings a surprising and intriguing combination of a strong, powerful exterior and a luxurious, Scandinavian interior. It will continue the genuine tradition of the Volvo Cross Country with a new recipe: the blend of powerful off-road capability in a most elegant, sophisticated, tailored wagon suit,” said Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President Design at Volvo Cars.

The new V90 Cross Country takes this well-established segment to a new level of comfort-inspired capability. Production of the car is set to start this autumn at Volvo Cars’ Torslanda plant in Sweden.

UK prices will be announced later this year, and first deliveries are expected in Q1 2017.

Volvo Cars has launched a new Polestar performance package to go on the new S90 and V90 luxury cars.

Polestar has launched the new generation of its performance package for the new Volvo S90 and V90. Known as Polestar Performance Optimisation, the package upgrades the entire drivetrain and further improves driving dynamics.

The S90 and V90 are the latest models launched on SPA, Volvo Cars’ new modular vehicle architecture that will underpin all new cars in Volvo’s 90 and 60 series. After bringing its new performance package to the XC90 last year, Polestar now launches the same upgrades for the other two models in Volvo’s top-of-the-line 90 range.

Rather than simply increasing engine performance, Polestar Performance Optimisation upgrades the entire drivetrain. By improving throttle and off-throttle response, gearshift speed and precision, as well as overall engine performance, the S90 and V90 become even more dynamic and fun to drive.

"We continue to enhance the performance of Volvo’s new, class-leading SPA vehicle architecture and Drive-E powertrains. The S90 and V90 already offer excellent driving dynamics, and we are delighted to raise the performance level even further with Polestar Performance Optimisation," said Niels Möller, COO of Polestar, the Volvo Cars performance brand.

The performance package has been developed in close cooperation with the engineers and racing drivers of Polestar Cyan Racing.

"It is exciting to take the technology we use in our race cars and apply that to Volvo’s road cars. We have created a balanced package that provides performance in all conditions, whether you are winning a race or driving actively on your favourite roads," said Thed Björk, who drives a Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 with Drive-E technology in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.

The first S90/V90 variant available for optimisation is the D5 PowerPulse diesel. The upgrade increases the engine's output from 235 hp and 480 Nm to 240 hp and 500 Nm. The upgrade costs £835.