Look Out, Germany

“Volvo is not a luxury car company.” That was exactly what the horrified Volvo PR guy, his professional smile now a frozen rictus, did not want to hear.

- Angus MacKenzie

But Pehr Gyllenhammar, Volvo’s iconoclastic boss from 1970 to 1994, was never one to pull his punches. In Gyllenhammar’s view Volvo built safe, durable, comfortably middle-class sedans and wagons; it did not compete with Mercedes-Benz or Jaguar. More than a quarter century later it would be fascinating to get Gyllenhammar’s take on the 2017 Volvo S90. Because this new Volvo sedan is a luxury car, a genuinely credible alternative to the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW 5 Series, and Audi A6. Oh, and Jaguar XF and Lexus GS, too.

The S90 is built on Volvo’s highly flexible Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), which also underpins the Volvo XC90 crossover, our 2016 SUV of the Year. The front suspension features control arms and conventional springs, while at the rear is a multilink axle with a single transverse composite spring, like the Corvette. Stefan Karlsson, the S90’s vehicle dynamics engineer, says the new rear axle design ensures all the energy from wheel motions is directed into the rear shocks, reducing impact harshness. Air suspension, standard all around on the XC90, is available as an option on the rear axle only.