Since scale models aren’t exactly the best way to reveal such an important car as the upcoming Volvo S90, the Swedes thought to finally tease us with the real thing.
Well, here it is people; a profile shot of the car that Volvo is going to use in battle against the BMW 5-Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Audi A6, Jaguar XF, and to a lesser extent, even the Lexus GS and the Cadillac CTS. You could even toss the Maserati Ghibli in there if you wanted.
We’re talking premium mid-size saloon territory, where prisoners are rarely taken and comparison test victories are oftentimes easy to predict.
The same can be said when it comes to sales, both in Europe and the USA. European buyers tend to favor the German trio, though considering how well the older Volvo V70/XC70 models are doing (keeping ahead of the Jaguar XF and crushing the Lexus GS in 2015) expecting the S90 to jump in and go after BMW/Audi/Mercedes is actually pretty realistic. Oh and Volvo’s XC60 SUV is the best selling car in its class in Europe, so there’s your precedent.
The US is going to be a little trickier, because there are a lot more offerings in this particular segment. From the Hyundai Genesis to the Lexus ES, the Infiniti Q70, the Lincoln MKS and even the Acura RLX. Here, it’s a little harder to anticipate if the S90 will play well with others, but it should make at least a couple of waves.
So what can we tell from this image? Quite a lot actually. Even though we don’t see the bottom of the car, the profile is obviously identical to certain scale models leaked recently. The headlights are similar to those on the XC90 SUV and the taillights do indeed look pretty massive (again, just like on the scale models) – though we’re not sure if that’s necessarily a good thing right now.
Luckily, rumor has it we’re going to see the S90 in all its glory in January at NAIAS.
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