Out of all the legacy automakers, Volvo is one of the most steadfast and fastest working when it comes to the transition to electric cars. In every market the Swedish brand will only sell EVs by 2030, with no caveats or asterisks attached. Volvo already has a growing lineup of electric cars that are either on sale now or coming soon, and now thanks to a report by Swedish site Teknikens Värld, we know what the next one will likely be.
Citing Volvo documents and images leaked in China, Teknikens Värld says the first verification prototype of the successor to Volvo’s current S90 sedan has rolled off the line at the brand’s factory outside Shanghai. Codenamed V551, the new electric sedan will likely be called ES90 to fit in the lineup alongside the EM90 van and the EX90 SUV with which it will share its SPA2 platform.
The ES90 is said to be the first car developed by Volvo’s Shanghai-based engineering team. That’s not a surprise, as China will surely be the biggest market for the car — Volvo sold fewer than 2,000 S90s in the U.S. in 2022, more than sixteen times less than the number sold in China.
Thanks to those leaked documents we know the ES90 will split the difference between the S90's standard and long-wheelbase variants in terms of length (the U.S. only gets the LWB model). It will also be slightly taller and wider than the S90, and its wheelbase will be more than an inch longer than that of the LWB S90. The ES90 will use the same 111-kWh battery pack as the EX90, with the option of either rear-wheel drive with a single motor or all-wheel drive with dual motors, the latter of which will have a range of around 370 miles on the Chinese CLTC cycle — expect that to be about 300 miles per the EPA.
Series production is said to start in May 2024, though those cars will likely still be prototypes and test vehicles. Expect a reveal around then, with sales to commence in 2025. The EX90's on-sale date has been delayed, but hopefully those issues will be ironed out before the ES90 is out. Following these models will be electric replacements for the S60, V60 and XC60, along with some other potential EVs.