End of Volvo product drought is near

It's been a rough road for Volvo for the past few years, but that's about to change, with six new vehicles coming in the next three years.

And CEO Hakan Samuelsson promises that the Swedish brand will "have a lot of variants."

"It will be in the first time in the history of the company that we'll have everything released in three years and fully synchronized and modernized," Samuelsson said.

The XC90 replacement will be the first car built on Volvo's new modular Scalable Platform Architecture, known as SPA, which eventually will be used for all models except the V40 compact. The replacement V40 is being developed on a different platform jointly with parent company Geely.

Volvo also is modernizing its engines with a new family of fuel-efficient Drive-E four-cylinder powerplants that are rolling out on 20151/2 models.

V60: The newly released V60 station wagon won't be changed for several years until it switches to the new architecture.

S60: A redesigned version of the compact sedan is expected in 2016 or 2017.

XC60: The redesigned compact crossover is expected in 2017 or 2018.

XC70: The tall wagon may be replaced in 2015 or 2016 and likely will be called the XC80.

XC90: The redesigned crossover will be unveiled in late August in Sweden and go on sale in the United States in the first quarter of next year. Volvo has been trickling out information, including the car's new center-mounted touch screen that will use Apple's CarPlay communications system for most infotainment, communications and climate settings rather than buttons. It would be operated with swipe motions similar to those used with the Apple iPad and iPhone. The XC90 also will get new safety technology such as nighttime pedestrian and animal detection systems and lane-departure warnings.

S90: The large sedan likely will be called the S90 when it comes in late 2015. The current car is called S80.

The S90 will be more luxurious than today's car, filled with infotainment and connectivity features as well as upgraded trim to compete with the large German sedans. Styling will be modernized, taking cues from the Concept Coupe shown last year. There may be a coupe derivative called the C90.

A station wagon is possible, based on the Concept Estate that debuted at this year's Geneva auto show.