With the Volvo Concept Recharge, the Swedes ventured a concrete look at the Volvo XC90 2023. The series SUV runs internally as the Volvo Embla comes with a new name and a new design language. We know that about the engine, the interior, and the price.
With the Volvo XC90 successor, almost everything will change in 2023. For the model change in spring 2023, the large SUV not only loses the designation XC90 but also the combustion engine. In addition, it will only be sold online.
You read that right – the series is being transformed into a full electrician. According to the wishes of the outgoing Volvo boss Hakan Samuelsson, it will have a “real” name instead of the technically cool designation, which incidentally applies to all new Volvos in the future. Internally, the project is known as Embla, which in Norse mythology corresponds to Ask’s female counterpart – the first two humans.
The “Eva” among the new Volvos is based on the technology internally referred to as the SPA2 platform (SPA = Scalable Product Architecture) and is produced in the US plant in South Carolina. The switch to the electric platform is part of the brand strategy, which states that the traditional brand only wants to sell electric cars from 2030. In addition to the Volvo XC90 2023, the successor to the XC60 will also be an electric model.
Volvo is also saying goodbye to the 4.96 meters long V90. In the opinion of the model strategists, one station wagon in the program is sufficient, and that is the V60, which is 4.78 meters long. It offers hardly less storage space than its big brother with its modest 1526 liters the vehicle size (Mercedes E-Class Estate: 1820 liters).
Back to the successor to the Volvo XC90 2023, the Volvo Embla. In the future, Volvo wants to ensure electric ranges of up to 1000 kilometers with its large E-SUV. However, this will only be the case with the next platform, which is logically called SPA3 and is to be equipped with completely newly developed batteries from partner Nordvolt.
Interesting: Volkswagen will also be using this battery generation in the future. On the flat Embla floor, there is a battery pack with a capacity of around 90 kWh, which should be good for realistic ranges of up to 500 kilometers. Hakan Samuelsson sees the Embla as the “brand manifesto”, which his designers promptly translated into a new design language.
The big Swede will attract attention. This also applies to the interior: a new 15-inch central display bundles most of the operating functions. It is integrated into an almost minimalist dashboard that appears to be floating. The first pictures of the Volvo XC90 2023 should go around the world in November 2022. Then sales of the Embla will also start – first in the USA, then a few months later here. At what price is not yet clear – the current model is on the price list as a mild hybrid from 73,350 euros (as of March 2022).
