Volvo leaves the electric … and relived his cult SUV

!While we were seen with the advertising points that in 2030 everyone driven by electric car, Volvo would have been frank. «Full Electric or Die,» said the Swedish producer almost. The future was clean, silent and completely fashionable. Except here: The command notebooks remained empty like the batteries on the A7 motorway in August. Result, in Volvo, we pulled the calculator out and revised the ambitions.

The phrase fell like a hail downset on a brand new hood: The goal of the 100 % electric is abandoned. Now, let’s aim for electrification «between 90 and 100 %». Understand with this that the thermal still has the right to the city … provided they are a little electrified or that they are pretending.

Why this reversal of trend? Because the infrastructure follows the rhythm of a snail under Lexomil, that customs taxes on Chinese batteries swell prices and above all … because customers have not taken the big step. So we keep the rechargeable hybrids in the interval, with a discreet wink against the slight hybrids, these cars that electrify more than one toaster.

XC90: the king returns … but not in ex

While everyone had eyes on the brand new Ex90, a 100 % electric showcase of the radiant future promised by Volvo, an old Biscard Resurfaces. THE XC90 Thermal, this good SUV of the Grande FamilyHe is still there, renewed, enhanced and ready to play.

One might think of an admission of bankruptcy, but no: Volvo calls him realism. The XC90, especially in its rechargeable T8 hybrid version (18.8 kWh the same), remains a top product. His electrical autonomy is sufficient to make the school trip to the home school without awakening the 4 -cylinder. And when the thermal engine begins, well, at least we know that we will not need to look for a terminal in the open countryside.

No great speech, no revolution, only a good old strategy on the field: We give the customer what he wants. And of course, what the customer wishes is not yet connecting his car every evening as a smartphone. He must have the choice, especially when he puts € 90,000 in an SUV.

The art of making new ones without making waves

Breathing an iconic SUV like XC90 is like trying to change the recipe for carbo paste: You have to touch only, otherwise it shouts in the cottage. Volvo understood him and opted for an operation of Swedish camouflage: discreet, precise and above all, effective without revolution.

Outside, the restyling is seen above all if you have a sharp eye: magazine grid, a little retouching in the perspective and a still balanced silhouette. The XC90 does not need to do too much. It is a silent elegance, the one that says: «I have been there since 2015, I am not getting rid, I’m updating myself.» «

In, The youth care is more evident. A new 11.2 -inch touchscreen is located in the center, the materials are durable, the finishes increase from a notch and the sound atmosphere is soft as a flute concert in a Scandinavian forest. We are good, they are dampened, it is clean – a cocoon to bite stress kilometers without stress.

What about driving pleasure? Followed the same treatment: No brutality, only fluidity. An SUV for those who prefer to swallow the limits of the drifts in a roundabout.

What Volvo prepares

Behind this XC90 remained, there is a well -oiled maneuver: Make the last existing to cross the electric storm. The charging infrastructure is still so irregular, customers are not ready to marry a cable and Volvo does not want to shoot the foot.

So, let’s save goat and cabbage: 100 % electric remains the long -term goalMoreover The electrified thermal becomes the official plan B. And that’s okay, because in parallel with the XC90, Volvo can continue to unroll his range, taking advantage of the contemporary on the profitability of his existing models.

This strategy is simple: Remain desirable without becoming impractical. Because if customers still want thermal, they will have thermal. But if they want to give themselves a good consciousness with a little electrons, they will also have their dose. The Swedish compromise in short.

Summary in 5 points

• Volvo leaves his 100 % electrical goal for 2030And it focuses on an interval between 90 and 100 % electrified.

• THE XC90 restyled thermal It is relaunched, especially in the rechargeable hybrid version.

• The design evolves discreetly but effectively, with a modernized and more lasting cabin.

• Volvo adopts A pragmatic transition strategyWaiting to meet the conditions for electricity.

• The brand Cap at electrificationBut without hurrying his customers … or his margins.