Better to keep the Volvo MPV thread going than start a new one 😁

 

I hope Volvo comes up with an OSD program for the EVs. I honestly don't understand the rational of not doing it. IMO the least valuable part to Volvo or the customer is the delivery part. Rather the trip to Sweden, factory tour and good Volvo Kool-Aid is the big winners that make it a marketing/customer win win.

 

Have always wanted to do OSD. Will be many years until I'm in the financial space to do it, but Volvo would be silly to discontinue the program altogether.

 

The EM90 will not be imported to Norway and Sweden

 

Not to its home market is odd and Norway is odd as they are EV mad.

Unless MPVs lack appeal as 7 seater (with the 3rd row full size) doesn't fit the typical demographics of those countries.

I guess the 3rd row of seats in the XC90 in these countries gets rarely used too.

I'm optimistic the EM90 will come with a 2+3+3 seating option making it an 8 seater

 

Now that's a surprise! I wonder what the reasons are. And wouldn't be surprised if the Polestar 4 isn't going to be imported either...

 

Polestar 4 is too important for the company not to be sold around the world. As for EM90 I'd guess the market probably isn't there so it would make economically sense.

 

I don't see who should buy a Polestar 4 in Europe. It's fairly large yet still doesn't offer usable space. I just don't see in which point it may excel.

 

Same market as any coupe SUV. BMW X6/X4, Merc GLE/GLC, Audi ETron Sportback, Porsche Caynne Coupe. There's good room for passengers, a sportyish drive, and enough cargo space for those not wanting a traditionally shaped SUV/crossover. It'll be big in North America, I think, and outsell the Polestar 2. The Tesla Y is a coupe SUV as well as the Model X. Of course, "coupe SUV" is marketing because it's not a real coupe but it's what they call this style of car.

 

Okay, if you see it that way. The Tesla Model Y has a huge trunk though, probably larger than the one of most electric SUVs, making the Model Y a family car. On the photos of the Polestar 4, the trunk looks not that large, and not so well accessible. Compared to SUV coupes, the Polestar 4 is notably lower, but aren't people buying SUVs because they want to sit higher? Whatever Polestar calls the 4, it's in fact a very large hatch with lots of space for the rear passengers. Similar to the Zeekr 001 actually.

 

2024 Lexus LM in Europe

This is completely shocking news to me: Lexus is actually selling the ghastly-looking LM Minivan in Europe. Strange on so many levels. First, I had no

burlappcar.com

 

Goodness, that face! It's as if someone took a Lexus sedan and STRETCHED it in photoshop as the MPV is taller. Someone somewhere finds that attractive and signed it off. Just imagine what the rejected designs look like!!

 

Goodness, that face!

 

Only a few of those LM will be sold in Europe
As the same time, in China, Chauffeured Minivan sells in much larger volume:
Denza ( A BYD / Mercedes JV) has already sold 100 000 D9 in less than a year.

 

In China luxury MPVs are taking over from sedans / limousines and SUVs for chauffeur driven services.

Non-China version of the Volvo MPV is a more conventional family car. Hopefully they've opted to give it a USP of being an 8 seater by the second and third row being 3 seats. Rather than the typical 7 seater with the 3rd row being 2 seats.

Geely's MPV is available as a 2+3+2 or a 2+2+3. Just need to merge those options together to get a nice 2+3+3

 

 

It's huuuuuuge!! Interestingly, the space between the headlights isn't a plain void like on the EX90. Instead, there is a grille-like structure. Of course this doesn't follow Scandinavian minimalistic design principles, but it will surely be more flattering to the eyes.

 

I hope they bring it to EX90. The faceless fronts of some EVs are just boring.
Polestar removed their identity with the MY24 front.

 

MPVs are boxes on wheels so hard to make them look stylish but still this looks nice

looking forward to the reveal on 12th Nov

On a Sunday which is unusual and no details yet where the event is

 

MPVs are boxes on wheels so hard to make them look stylish but still this looks nice

looking forward to the reveal on 12th Nov

On a Sunday which is unusual and no details yet where the event is

Maybe it will be so late on Sunday that it is already Monday morning in eastern China 😉

 

Official Volvo comment on their Instagram page:

Hello we will explore the opportunity of launching this in other markets, however for the time being, it will only be available in mainland China /Anthony

 

Spotted that reply too. Fits with what I’ve been told by someone senior in Volvo’s sales team

1) Volvo MPV designed and developed in parallel with the Zeekr 009. Design and engineering teams in Sweden and China.

2) Zeekr launches first

3) He has seen the MPV in the metal and says it’s stunning

4) Launches in the China market first. Two version. 4 seater with super extra legroom in the back for the executive & chauffeur driven luxury MPV market in China. Also a “usual” MPV. He wouldn’t say if it has 7 or 8 seats. (I’m hoping for 2+3+3 option). Then launched in US then EU including the U.K. More so the standard 6/7/8 seat version for these markets but 4 seater version also offered here.

5) Admitted the MPV boom in the EU was in the 2000s. A smile but “no comment” on the P2 platform MPV that didn’t make it and the P3 MPV that Ford wouldn’t let happen. Said the MPV “is a perfect fit for the Volvo brand now as it was then”. “Should have done this earlier”. Many are buying SUVs as the default family car but MPVs offer easier ingress and egress and other advantages so still worth doing”. “MPVs are hard to style given the fixed shape” but he feels Volvo has done a great job with this one. “New family look of the EX90 and EX30 would be a reasonable assumption” but wouldn’t confirm.

 

the space between the headlights isn't a plain void like on the EX90. Instead, there is a grille-like structure. Of course this doesn't follow Scandinavian minimalistic design principles, but it will surely be more flattering to the eyes.

That "grille-like structure" seems to extend to under the headlights. Hope its not an overcorrection, but agreed.

Then launched in US then EU including the U.K. More so the standard 6/7/8 seat version for these markets but 4 seater version also offered here.

MPV “is a perfect fit for the Volvo brand now as it was then”. “Should have done this earlier”. Many are buying SUVs as the default family car but MPVs offer easier ingress and egress and other advantages so still worth doing”.

I've long thought the first premium MPV/minivan to land in NA would do well - utility for family + badge for self-assurance. We would have jumped on SPA1 MPV PHEV as the ultimate compromise.

(See my PM from last month? Might be OBE now, however.)

 

That "grille-like structure" seems to extend to under the headlights. Hope its not an overcorrection, but agreed.

Or maybe it's only a reflection in the glass window between the car and the camera (reflection of some sort of living room item). Rather unlikely, but not to be excluded...

I see you have a new signature? Given up the hope of an XC90 facelift?

 

That’s an interesting point. If there was one planned for P2 and for P3 the concept and sketches were developed but Ford said no then was there one for SPA-1 as well? I guess maybe not as for the EU market the trend is SUV over everything else and competitors weren’t making MPVs so why do so? But then the standard MPV market still exists in China and the luxury MPV market in China booms, sister brand Zeekr wants an MPV and so the opportunity comes up to co-develop two MPVs. Volvo MPV revealed in the electrification plan in 2021 but in the product plan since 2019 I’d think. Maybe originally intended to be SPA-2 based early on. If there’s a Volvo for the luxury MPV market in China then there might as well be a standard version for the rest of the world given the great fit with the Volvo brand image.

If the Zeekr 009 MPV is going global the Volvo MPV might as well too. An easier sell for Volvo I think.

 

It would probably help if people kept nagging Volvo on their social media posts about the EM90 asking for it in various markets! Another way to show them there’s demand.

I’ll endeavour to post something longer about C30’s development but basically it was never in the product plan but was made in response to unexpected huge interest in the SCC concept car in 2001 for a new small Volvo

 

OMG, awful.

 

Nothing excites me yet. And if it has a faux grille that's a big inconsistency with Volvo's styling set by the EX90 and continued into the EX30. In fact, the faux grille in the pic reminds me of the newest Lexus RX.

 

Let's wait and see. "Faux" is actually always wrong per se, as it contradicts functionality. It's rather that we are used to seeing grilles, so it's only a matter of perception. Some day, a manufacturer will come up with a new way of giving cars a visual personality without using faux (=fake) elements. Ideally this will be Volvo or Polestar.

 

I think patent images may "leak" before the reveal.

 

This stuff about Chinese this and that needs further investigation. Because Geely has quietly become partially Swedish based. Their chief engineering and platform designer is Swedish. Their chief designer comes from Bentley and is headquartered in Sweden. A lot of Zeekr and Lynk and Co., the CEVT, is coming out of Sweden so while Geely is mostly based in China, there is a presence in Sweden. And the same Geely did collaborate with Mercedes in the Smart#1 creation. So I'm not sure even if we can associate a lot of brands with one country anymore. I looked at a BMW video and commenters were saying how much Rolls Royce there is in it so BMW may be using some tech from RR while of course RR has some from BMW. Yes, RR will still feel different from BMW and have a kind of English look and feel but a lot of this stuff is getting blurred now. Volvo and Polestar have the Scandinavian thing but more CEVT and some Geely and perhaps others will be part of the two brands going forward. All sorts of collabs are going on and companies headquartering operations in various locations.

https://www.geelydesign.com/articles/stefan-sielaff

 

Big car makers are all multi-national and we think they are from the country where their headerquarter and most factory are located. So VW is German, Toyota and Honda are Japanese, though they have factories in America and Mexico. Geely is a Chinese corp for sure.

 

New preview pic in a new video about the EM90 now released by Volvo on their Facebook page

 

https://fb.watch/nCpwVBDW3U/

 

Nice video, although I'm a bit disappointed in the parlor-trick headlights. But if they're solid-state (not moving mechanical parts like EX90 - EVs are supposed to have fewer of those), then fine.

Too bad Volvo didn't do an MPV PHEV on SPA1 - that would have been the ultimate compromise for us. I bet it would have had much better links to heritage vs. how Jeep Wagoneer turned out. And probably big enough to carry a spare tire.