Hello
I think after 10 years I can post this.
I was forwarded two photos from a friend who started working for Volvo in 1999. He forwarded me an image below of a cancelled SUV project. He didnt take this pic. I believe there were three or four false starts / attempts at a volvo SUV before the XC90 on the P2 platform. It was the third or fourth attempt....An Autocar(UK magazine) exclusive review of the XC90 project gives more info but I dont have it to hand. The XC90 wasnt the first one.....
He forwarded me the following pic saying this car was cancelled and the SUV would be a completely new design
Shortly after the S80 launch, he forwarded me some pics from Volvo's Hallerad proving ground/ test circuit that he took of a large Volvo estate based on the S80. Really, an S80 estate with the same front end. The rear was similar to the actual later V70 but was wider and more S80 like....The car was to be the new V90 or V80 (it didnt get a real name). However, Volvo product planners decided the V70 was big enough and they didnt need a V80 or V90. Later, the VCC concept car showed that ideas of a bigger volvo estate were still alive at Volvo. Lex Kerresmakers (in a number of interviews) including his most recent, that he would like to do a new V90 and a bigger estate but volvo is assessing if the market really needs it. Recent info suggest the traditional estate is on the way out, Volvo is looking at "high roofline" estates at the moment and the current V70 was almost a "high estate" vehicle but in the end it wasnt.
I'll try to find the V80/V90 pic at some point. It is somewhere on an old pc.....
He also told me about Volvo having an advanced adaptive chassis design coming and there were 'active' debates at where to put the control module.
(that became the 4C chassis of the R series)
Further, he mentioned volvo testing 'the new estate car' with behind steering wheel mounted paddle shifts for the auto box
At about the same time, the gull wing supercar was spotted in Arizona with a 6 cylinder twin turbo engine. He couldnt tell me much more about it.
Further, the Volvo V10 engine was developed but then the programme was cancelled. See the SAE Paper Volvo and Cosworth wrote about this engine.
According to one volvo powertrain engineer, the V10 sounded "awesome"
Enjoy the first pic. I'll try to dig out the V80/V90 pic
After he sent me this news, he was promoted to vehicle prototyping in volvo's production pilot plant and signed a much stronger non-disclosure agreement. Couldnt tell me anything else......
here is the first pic he sent me
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I think after 10 years I can post this.
I was forwarded two photos from a friend who started working for Volvo in 1999. He forwarded me an image below of a cancelled SUV project. He didnt take this pic. I believe there were three or four false starts / attempts at a volvo SUV before the XC90 on the P2 platform. It was the third or fourth attempt....An Autocar(UK magazine) exclusive review of the XC90 project gives more info but I dont have it to hand. The XC90 wasnt the first one.....
He forwarded me the following pic saying this car was cancelled and the SUV would be a completely new design
Shortly after the S80 launch, he forwarded me some pics from Volvo's Hallerad proving ground/ test circuit that he took of a large Volvo estate based on the S80. Really, an S80 estate with the same front end. The rear was similar to the actual later V70 but was wider and more S80 like....The car was to be the new V90 or V80 (it didnt get a real name). However, Volvo product planners decided the V70 was big enough and they didnt need a V80 or V90. Later, the VCC concept car showed that ideas of a bigger volvo estate were still alive at Volvo. Lex Kerresmakers (in a number of interviews) including his most recent, that he would like to do a new V90 and a bigger estate but volvo is assessing if the market really needs it. Recent info suggest the traditional estate is on the way out, Volvo is looking at "high roofline" estates at the moment and the current V70 was almost a "high estate" vehicle but in the end it wasnt.
I'll try to find the V80/V90 pic at some point. It is somewhere on an old pc.....
He also told me about Volvo having an advanced adaptive chassis design coming and there were 'active' debates at where to put the control module.
(that became the 4C chassis of the R series)
Further, he mentioned volvo testing 'the new estate car' with behind steering wheel mounted paddle shifts for the auto box
At about the same time, the gull wing supercar was spotted in Arizona with a 6 cylinder twin turbo engine. He couldnt tell me much more about it.
Further, the Volvo V10 engine was developed but then the programme was cancelled. See the SAE Paper Volvo and Cosworth wrote about this engine.
According to one volvo powertrain engineer, the V10 sounded "awesome"
Enjoy the first pic. I'll try to dig out the V80/V90 pic
After he sent me this news, he was promoted to vehicle prototyping in volvo's production pilot plant and signed a much stronger non-disclosure agreement. Couldnt tell me anything else......
here is the first pic he sent me
