Volvo announces successor to the XC90
The all-electric successor to the Volvo XC90 will be called the EX90 and will be unveiled on November 9. Volvo Cars has now officially announced this. However, the Swedish company has not provided any details on the drive system, instead providing initial information on the safety systems installed.
What is clear, is that the EX90 will only be offered with electric powertrains and is based on a new EV platform that will later also be used in other Volvo models. This mirrors what the manufacturer did with the second generation of the XC90 in 2014 and the then-new SPA platform.
In its first announcement about the EX90, the manufacturer only addresses the issue of safety. The EX90 will have a Lidar unit for its driver assistance systems from the factory. “It can see small objects hundreds of metres ahead, creating more time to inform, act and avoid,” says Volvo CEO Jim Rowan. Volvo’s assistance systems involve not only the vehicle’s surroundings, as in the past, but also the interior: “Inside, our invisible shield of safety also looks out for you. Special sensors and cameras, powered by our own in-house developed algorithms, gauge eye gaze concentration,” Rowan adds. “The technology allows the EX90 to see when you’re distracted, tired or otherwise inattentive, beyond what has been possible in a Volvo car to date.”
Volvo Cars plans to release more detailed info on the upcoming all-electric flagship SUV in the coming weeks. This will likely be in tidbits about individual systems and features. Full technical data on the powertrain, battery, charging system and range are not expected until the debut in November.
Speculation that the electric successor to the XC90 could be called the Embla or EXC90 has thus not materialized. The rumours about a possible departure from the traditional, alphanumeric naming scheme arose last year, when Hakan Samuelsson was still Volvo’s CEO. From time to time, models are renamed after a change of CEO before their premiere. However, with EX90, a central statement made by ex-CEO Samuelsson in December has also come to pass: The model name starts with a vowel.
It has already been confirmed that the EX90 will first come off the production line at the Ridgeville plant in the US state of South Carolina, where the Polestar 3 is also produced. European production of these two electric models could take place at Volvo’s recently announced new electric car plant in Slovakia, but this is not yet official.
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