Visuals of this upcoming EV Volvo large sedan is unfortunately still to be elusive thus far.
While Volvo did announce a couple months back that it will be pulling all of its sedans from the UK market, it does seem for the Swedish automaker to not be giving up on having a 5-Series rival in its global fleet just yet. Such is because there is supposedly an all-electric successor to the S90 currently in the works, with it apparently having already gone into pre-production too.
Unfortunately, any visual proof of this upcoming large Volvo sedan still remains elusive thus far. Such is because Teknikens Värland — the publication who broke this story — did not actually provide the supposed picture of employees posing in front of the first pre-production prototype rolling off the assembly line earlier this month.
According to the publication, the first pre-production prototype that rolled off the assembly line in China earlier this month was a ‘verification car’ that will be subjected to extensive testing. More specifically actually, news of this Volvo sedan’s existence originated from employees supposedly having posed for a picture in front of a banner with this sedan that said ‘Volvo Cars V551 First VP Car Celebration’ (with V551 being the project code of this model), which was accompanied by signs noting the model is ‘Confidential’ and ‘Top Secret’.
Though top secret this project may still be, the publication did nevertheless note a few pertinent details for this upcoming sedan. These include the fact that this new model will all but likely be riding on the same SPA2 platform that underpins the Polestar 3 and Volvo EX90, and could (if Lexus does not object) be known as the ES90.
The new sedan will allegedly also split the difference between the short- and long-wheelbase variants of the outgoing S90 in terms of size, coming in at 4,990 mm long, 1,945 mm wide, and 1,547 mm tall with a wheelbase spanning 3,102 mm. As for its drivetrain meanwhile, the ES90 will apparently feature the same 111-kWh battery pack as its EX90 sibling, powering either a single rear-mounted motor or dual motors, with the latter supposedly to have a range of around 600 km on the Chinese CLTC test cycle.
Now, one other interesting curio worth highlighting regarding this upcoming Volvo is that it will be the first new global model for the Swedish automaker where development has been carried out under the direction of the engineering team in Shanghai. This however should not come as a surprise to anyone, given that China is one of the biggest markets still for the sedan.
Series production of the supposed ES90 is said to properly commence in May next year, but it is expected for those first cars to still be prototypes and test vehicles. The first cars to hit dealerships is instead expected around 2025, with there a not-insignificant chance that it will arrive over here shortly after its international launch too.
