Photo: Volvo
The Volvo XC90 is dead. Long live the XC90. As Volvo prepares to unveil the all-new 2015 XC90, it has officially ended production of the current model after its 12-year run at the Torslanda assembly plant, but this body style will continue to live on as the XC90 Classic that will be built and sold in China later this year.
Although the 2015 Volvo XC90 won’t be revealed until next month, the Torslanda is being retooled to build the next-gen Volvo SUV, which goes into production in January 2015. During its run, the current Volvo XC90 has sold more than 636,000 examples, and this final example will forever live on in Volvo’s museum. As for the XC90 Classic, it will be produced at Volvo’s new assembly plant in Daqing, China.
Perhaps even more interesting than this actual news is some of the background behind the original XC90 that launched in 2002 including an image showing three of the initial design proposals dating back to 1998. At the time, the XC90 was codenamed P28, and on this occasion, Volvo hauled out three of its potential designs to finalize a styling direction of the XC90 and future Volvo products. It is definitely interesting to see the potential design avenues Volvo was considering for its first-ever SUV.
Based on this image, the center design looks to be the direction Volvo ended up taking for the production XC90, while the model on the right looks more like a conventional SUV of that era similar to the second-gen Dodge Durango. The design proposal on the left actually looks like a stretched version of the XC70 station wagon crossover, but the more interesting part of that design is the mini sunroof located just aft of the windshield.
Despite its unconventional 12-year life cycle, the current XC90 is still at the top of its class when it comes to safety. When it was introduced in 2002, the XC90 introduced class-leading safety features that are now commonplace across the automotive landscape including three-row side-curtain airbags and Roll Stability Control. More class-leading innovations are in store for the XC90 as Volvo recently promised that its next-gen SUV will be the “most powerful and cleanest SUV” in its segment.
Perhaps even more interesting than this actual news is some of the background behind the original XC90 that launched in 2002 including an image showing three of the initial design proposals dating back to 1998. At the time, the XC90 was codenamed P28, and on this occasion, Volvo hauled out three of its potential designs to finalize a styling direction of the XC90 and future Volvo products. It is definitely interesting to see the potential design avenues Volvo was considering for its first-ever SUV.
Based on this image, the center design looks to be the direction Volvo ended up taking for the production XC90, while the model on the right looks more like a conventional SUV of that era similar to the second-gen Dodge Durango. The design proposal on the left actually looks like a stretched version of the XC70 station wagon crossover, but the more interesting part of that design is the mini sunroof located just aft of the windshield.
Despite its unconventional 12-year life cycle, the current XC90 is still at the top of its class when it comes to safety. When it was introduced in 2002, the XC90 introduced class-leading safety features that are now commonplace across the automotive landscape including three-row side-curtain airbags and Roll Stability Control. More class-leading innovations are in store for the XC90 as Volvo recently promised that its next-gen SUV will be the “most powerful and cleanest SUV” in its segment.
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