Volvo has already finished the final countdown for all the sedans and estates in the United Kingdom. The Swedish carmaker will exclusively focus on what the market demands: SUVs, ditching everything else.
The sedans and estates can no longer be specced in the United Kingdom using the Volvo website configurator. Customers can still buy such a model if they choose one from the dealers' remaining stock.
Volvo has axed them all one by one, starting with the S90 sedan and going straight to the V60 and the V90 Cross Country, with the latter being a rival to Mercedes-Benz' E-Class All-Terrain and part of a narrow niche in the market. Back then, the Swedish said they were not planning to ditch the models, but it was probably a moment in between decisions.
The S60 mid-size sedan vanished from the online configurator last year, but returned – as Autocar reports – "for the medium-term future." The move made sense at the time, considering that the South Carolina plant, where Volvo is building the S60, will switch to an all-electric SUVs production. That is where the EX90 will see the light of day starting next year, following the delay caused by various safety tech integration issues.
Volvo indicates the transformation of the lineup, moving towards full electrification, in a statement to Autocar. They explain that the demand for SUVs has been on the rise, while customers’ interest in sedans and estates has been constantly shrinking over the years.
"Appetite for our saloon and estate models has fallen to very low levels in the UK, which has led to our decision to remove these models from sale," they added.
Volvo is already selling/going to sell three electric SUVs: the XC40 Recharge, the EX30, and the seven-seat EX90 flagship. An electric successor of the XC60 will drop in 2025.
The best-selling Volvo model in the UK remains the XC60, purchased by 106,000 customers over the first half of 2023, despite the fact that the second generation has been on the market for six years already, having undergone a facelift in 2021. With such figures, the XC90 outsold the brand’s entire sedan and state range by around 60%.
23,000 customers ordered an S90, 18,000 went for the S60, 16,000 chose the V60, while only 7,100 took home a V90. Most likely, slow sales must have had a word in the decision. But the news drops as a surprise considering there were romors that claimed Volvo was working on electric variants of these models.
The S60/V60 and S90/V90 are still available in other European countries.
Volvo is committed to offering a fully electric lineup by 2030, way ahead of the 2035 ban of ICE-powered cars indicated by the European Union.
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