Antique dealers and other big boot lovers of the world rejoice: Volvo estates are making a return to the UK. The Volvo V60 and Volvo V90 were withdrawn in August 2023 – along with their S60 and S90 saloon counterparts – but will be available once again from July (the saloons won’t).
At the time, it made sense for Volvo to axe all it’s non-SUV models from UK price lists because they accounted for less than 10% of the Swedish brand’s sales here. Despite the fact they remained available elsewhere in the world, and UK emergency services could still get hold of the V60 and V90.
But never underestimate the power of the consumer to get a decision reversed. In a statement released to CAR Magazine, Volvo said: ‘We removed the V60 and V90 from sale in the UK last August amid falling appetite for estate cars. While this remains a long-term trend, we have seen a resurgence for our estate products in recent months and have decided to reintroduce the V60 and V90 to our UK portfolio in response to this. We will begin taking orders next month.
‘When operating in a fast-moving industry, we continually re-evaluate our product portfolio to ensure we have the right mix to serve all our customers. As part of this process, it is not uncommon for us to remove certain models or derivatives from sale and reintroduce them later.
‘We were thrilled by the many comments from customers and media last year, with many stories and memories of how our estate cars have been a huge part of their lives. We look forward to helping create more!’
We don’t know at this stage which powertrains will be available in the V60 and V90. But reports suggest the V60 will be offered with the 197bhp B4 mild-hybrid petrol engine, and the 350bhp T6 and 455bhp T8 plug-in hybrids. The V90 gets both the plug-in powertrains, as well.
It’s not clear how long the V60 and V90 will be back on sale for. Both cars are getting on in years – the V60 was launched in 2018 and the V90 in 2016, so they are nearing the end of their product cycles. It’s worth noting that production of the S60 saloon has just ended in the USA, though the S90 is still being churned out in China.
We also don’t know what the future holds for the Volvo estate in general as the brand switches to an all-electric line-up. There is an ES90 electric saloon in the product plan and it surely wouldn’t be too much bother to spin an estate off it. If there’s the demand for such a thing, of course…