Volvo to upgrade XC90 styling despite looming phaseout in EV shift

Volvo will keep improving the looks of the XC90 as it continues building the flagship SUV in Sweden even after a range-topping, electric-only successor starts rolling off the line of the automaker's U.S. plant later this year.

"That's an advantage of building the new one in Charleston [South Carolina]," Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson told Automotive News Europe. "Why should we close down the old one in Torslanda when you still have a market for hybrids, especially in America and China."

The XC90, Volvo's No. 3-seller globally last year, with volume up 17 percent to 108,231, is offered with a range of powertrains, including a plug-in hybrid variant that offers roughly 50 km of electric-only driving in combination with a gasoline engine.

Volvo, which plans to be an electric only brand by 2030, has said its next battery-driven model, expected to be called the Embla, will become its new flagship.

Samuelsson said Volvo will continue building the second-generation XC90, which debuted in 2014 and was the first all-new model from Volvo after Zhejiang Geely Holding bought the company from Ford Motor in 2010.

"We will even look into upgrading it so it looks a bit better," Samuelsson added. "But, technology wise, we'll invest in the new generation of all-electric cars."

Volvo last week announced a $1.1 billion investment at Torslanda, where the XC90 and XC60 SUVs are built, to prepare the plant to produce a new generation of EVs that the automaker says will offer better range and faster charging times at a lower cost.

Volvo wants half of its global sales -- an estimated 600,000 units -- to be battery powered by 2025. To make the transition Volvo has announced investments in the last two years totaling more than $4 billion (see chart below).

Volvo has traditionally kept successful models in production after a replacement arrives.

For example, the XC90 was sold in parallel to the first-generation model from March 2015 until the end of 2016.

Volvo sold 927 first-generation XC90s in 2016. In many case they we given the name Classic to distinguish them from the new-generation model.