Volvo S90 India launch in end-2016

Volvo’s new S90 is a car that’s set its sights firmly on the German luxury trio. Engineered, designed and configured to take on Audi’s A6, BMW’s 5-series and Mercedes’s E-class, Volvo’s new flagship however is very different from the competition. CEO Hakan Samuelsson, insists it isn’t a me-too product. “We have an identity that’s unlike the others, and we’ve got a new, genuinely Swedish look which is very elegant and Nordic.”

The car’s exterior styling, in fact, moves on from the heavy shouldered look of the earlier S80. The S90 uses bold lines and minimalistic detailing to help it look crisp and fresh. Some of the bits though are familiar. The nose of the car looks very similar to that of the XC90. The long headlights with the ‘Thor’s hammer’ LEDs look stunning, the concave grille protrudes out to give it a layered effect and the very short front overhang and vertical nose make the S90 look distinctive. Walk around the side of the car and you get more of the same, the new S90 now getting your attention with its smooth flanks. But this harmony is broken at the rear. The tail-lights seem a bit overdone and oversized. And the multitude of lines make the boot look a bit fussy too. One thing’s for sure, you won’t mistake this car for anything else.

Oversized tail-lights and multitude of lines make the rear look fussy but distinctive.

What also sets it apart from the crowd is the stretched out, elongated look. Volvo designers say this is enhanced by pushing the cabin as far back as possible; what they seek is a high front axle-to-dashboard ratio. The S90 also has an extremely long 2,941mm wheelbase.

This makes the car look long in beam and elegant to begin with and then, space inside the cabin benefits too. The problem is, this reduces torsional stiffness. Volvo engineers we spoke to during the reveal of the car, however, insisted that the S90 is well up on rigidity.

“Stiffness is important for many factors like ride comfort and handling, but it is also important for another factor, safety. And it is for this reason that the new S90 has been made extremely stiff.”
Also, Volvo isn’t chasing dynamically impressive cars like the BMW 3-series and others.

What it is interested in is having best-in-class ride comfort, which it why it will use extremely high-strength boron steel in its construction. The S90 is also built on Volvo’s new and flexible Scalable Platform Architecture, and this will bring all the benefits of modern construction. The car’s 152mm of ground clearance won’t be enough for Indian conditions though; Volvo will raise the ride height of the car to make clearing large speed breakers and ramps easier.

On the inside, the cabin is very XC90-like. It gets an identical, large, portrait-layout touchscreen display, and the instrument panel, steering wheel and console between the seats are very similar too. This, immediately, means very high levels of quality with fit and finish almost on par with Audi.
This is also an interior you want to constantly touch and feel; the sumptuous leather is supple and beautifully ‘fluffed up’, and just like the leather, swatches of wood used also stand out, giving the dash a three-dimensional and layered look. But the S90’s dash does differ from that of the XC in several places. It has a band of chrome that bisects the dash, Volvo has used vertically aligned vents and the doorpads are different too. Indian car buyers will also be happy; there’s plenty of legroom in the rear. Thigh support is good, the backrest is large and very supportive and visibility out the rear is improved as the S90 uses a rear quarter glass that makes the insides feel more airy. 

Tasteful blend of high-quality leather, wood and chrome make the cabin look plush and on par with luxury rivals.

Safety features, also borrowed from the XC90, include the Pilot Assist semi-autonomous driving feature that keeps the car between motorway road markings and there’s also new added features like Volvo’s City Safety system that detects large animals and warns the driver or primes the brakes. But it isn’t clear as to which of these systems will make it here, as the scrap over the use of automotive radar frequencies is still ongoing.

The new S90 will go up against rivals like the BMW 5-series, Audi A6 and Mercedes E-class when it comes to India in the latter part of 2016. The 2.0-litre diesel is expected here initially, either in D4 or D5 trim and while the former is tuned to deliver a healthy 188bhp, it’s the more powerful 232bhp D5 we are likely to get first. And Volvo says it will get the top-of-the-line ‘Inscription’ version here. Pricing, however, will be ‘extremely competitive’ with other luxury cars in its class, meaning the S90 could go on sale with prices starting at around the Rs 46-lakh mark. And that will make Volvo’s new luxury-oriented S90 extremely competitive. What Volvo really has to do now is work hard on improving the reach of its dealer network.

Volvo S90 D5

Price from       Rs 46 lakh (est, ex-showroom, Delhi)

On Sale          2016

L/W/H          4963/2019/1443mm

Wheelbase        2941mm

Fuel tank capacity        60 litres

Kerb weight           2150kg

Engine layout           4 cyls, turbo-diesel

Displacement         1969cc

Power                          232bhp at 4000rpm

Torque             48.95kgm at 1750-2250rpm

Specific output         117.83bhp per litre 

Power to weight        107.91bhp per tonne

Gearbox       8-speed automatic

Front suspension       Double wishbone, coil springs, stabilizer bar  

Rear suspension        Integral axle, transverse composite leaf spring, stabilizer bar

Front brake         Ventilated discs

Rear brake          Ventilated discs

Wheels                8-spoke alloy

Rim size (f-r)        20 inches

Tyre size (f-r)       255/35 R 20 - 255/35 R 20