First Ford, now Volvo, will the U.S and UK be SUV only countries soon?
Yesterday, American automaker Ford blessed enthusiasts with good news after it had axed its entire sedan lineup in the U.S a few years ago but today, Swedish carmaker, Volvo, just announced that it will be axing its entire sedan and wagon lineup in the UK due to low sales.
Volvo has officially discontinued the S60/V60 and S90/V90 models from its UK lineup so now the brand’s portfolio in the country is SUV only and comprises of the XC40, C40, XC60, and XC90, with the entry-level EX30 and flagship EX90 electric vehicles (EVs) set to join in the future.
Moreover, this started long ago with the S90 sedan which was discontinued earlier this summer alongside the V60 and V90 Cross Country estates. At the time, the UK arm of Volvo assured everyone there were no immediate plans for axing the regular V60 and V90.
Well, apparently, Volvo changed its mind. As far as the S60 sedan goes, it was on-and-off since last year due to issues with production in the South Carolina plant in the U.S and is now officially dead in the UK.
What’s more, Autocar got a statement from Volvo that explained the rationale behind the decision to go SUV-only in the UK market, with the brand stating, “…We will naturally need to evolve and consolidate our line-up as we prioritize fully electric cars and make this technological transition. As a result, we have removed further models from the UK line-up. These include the S60, V60, and V90…”
UK sales of Volvo sedans and estates were significantly lower compared to its SUV models. More specifically in the first half of 2023, Volvo sold around 23,000 units of the S90, 18,000 units of the S60, 16,000 units of the V60, and only 7,100 units of the V90. While this decision makes sense financially, I am still sad as a sedan lover.
On top of that, the best selling Volvo model in the UK is the aging XC60 SUV which sold 106,000 units in the same period, which is more than the combined sales of all sedan and estate models. British buyers who are still interested in Volvo sedans and estates will now only be able to get them from the remaining stock.
Its likely that Volvo sedan and wagon models will never return to the UK’s lineup, but the automaker said it will keep them alive in its future range. Volvo big wigs confirmed the development of an electric wagon, while insider sources suggest that the automaker is already working on EV successors for both the S60 and S90 sedans.
Volvo will be an EV only by 2030, which means that all of its upcoming models will come with a zero-emission powertrains and this is just another blow to the car enthusiast community.
We got all this from Carscoops and their full article is linked here. Thank You Carscoops for the information and images.
