Once upon a time, station wagons were popular in the United States. Pretty much every automaker had at least one in its lineup, giving consumers a wide range of choices for their practical transport needs. Over the past four decades or so, minivans and crossovers have eroded the wagon’s market share, leaving it virtually bare.
Volvo, a longtime purveyor of extremely cool station wagons, was one of the few holdouts remaining in the American market. Despite the ever-decreasing desire for longroofs, it has continued to offer the V60 Cross Country to Stateside buyers. Well, that niche offering is about to come to an end.
The Swedish carmaker announced plans today to remove its tall V60 from the American market next year, marking the end of a decades-long run of iconic Volvo wagons in North America.
Gosh, This Is Depressing
The Volvo brand and the station wagon body style are intertwined in the eyes of the American market, at least to me. When I think of classic wagons, I picture an old 240 in my head, driven by a college professor with suede elbow patches on his corduroy blazer, or a hipster on their way to Dartmouth for the fall semester.
The truth is, wagons haven’t been popular for a long time. Sales of the body style peaked all the way back in the Seventies before starting their slow decline. Nowadays, they make up around 1% of the market (and most of those sales are of the Subaru Outback, which, as of this year, looks less like a wagon than ever).
You can argue wagons are having a bit of a moment at the top end of the market, where cars like the BMW M5 Touring, the Audi RS6 Avant, and the Mercedes-AMG E53 are more popular than ever. While that’s true, those cars are expensive and sell in incredibly low volumes. Meanwhile, “normal” wagons, like the V60 Cross Country, still struggle to find buyers.
In its announcement, Volvo admits it’s the overwhelming popularity of the SUV body style that has forced it to stop selling the V60 CC Stateside. From the release:
Sometimes these adaptations can be bittersweet. As our customers in the U.S. overwhelmingly prefer SUVs, early next year we’ll take the last orders for this generation of Volvo wagons, with the V60 Cross Country ending production in April 2026. For U.S. customers who love wagons, there’s still a bit of time: orders will be accepted until late January 2026, and we expect to have V60 Cross Country available in retailer inventory for a few months after that.
At least Volvo is giving the wagon-faithful in America one last chance to get their hands on a new V60 before it’s gone for good. The window to place an order is incredibly small—about a month, from the sound of it—so if you’ve been on the fence, I suggest making your decision now.
The Future Of Volvo Wagons Elsewhere Remains Up In The Air
In its announcement, Volvo clarified that production of the V60 wagon will continue for markets overseas, like Europe, where wagons still hold a bit of market share. But even in those markets, the business case for the wagon is waning.
Volvo killed off its bigger wagon, the V90, earlier this year, and back in March, CEO Jim Rowan admitted he could see a future for the brand without traditional wagons in its lineup. The current V60 is also nearly eight years old at this point, so the company will have to make a decision on whether to refresh the car or simply discontinue it sooner rather than later.
I might be a bit biased, but I think Volvo should keep the V60 around. As fewer and fewer wagons exist in the segment, the company can capitalize on the slice of the population who still want cars like these, however small that population might be. Plus, I seriously can’t imagine a world without a Volvo station wagon on sale. It just feels wrong.
Top graphic image: Volvo
The newer Volvo wagons are incredibly good looking, I’m sad to see them go. I owned a ’07 XC70 from 2012 to just recently, it was such a fantastic car.
Give me an opportunity and I’ll have no problem rocking a wagon. Especially an Audi RS6 Avant
A Hyundai Santa Fe lowered a couple inches can be the new wagon for the US..
Also, was surprised the V60 is over 2 tons and has a tiny complicated 2.0 engine. What could go wrong
As a 240 wagon owner, I’m saddened but not surprised by this news.
Sad to see these classy wagons go. Never going to get rid of my A6 Allroad, my 4th wagon.
WHY aren’t station wagons popular? I really don’t get it. I have a feeling that it’s because boomers are the largest purchasers of new vehicles, and they were deeply uncool to them growing up. Us millennials largely grew up in the minivan world, maybe once (if) we ever have new car purchasing power the wagon’s market share will increase.
I honestly think they could be, but unless you want to spend 100k on one today, you can’t get a decent one. The only other option is a Subaru which I would never own, and even if I loved CVT’s, they only make the fake off-road cladded uglyness.
TLDR: The market abandoned the “nice but attainable” wagon and left us with ugly or expensive as the options.
Subaru’s wagons are dead as of this latest model year. I LOVE the Buick TourX, wish they still made them.
Like Ford killing the Focus. Ignorant. Seriously can anyone imagine VW without the golf?
yes I can. I haven’t seen one in years, only their SUV’s. For reference, I park cars at a venue 7 months a year.
That is sad. Goodbye yellow brick VW road
Volvo will be dead to me.
That funny I thought those *were* suv/crossover things, not wagons. I mean, they have those plastic fenders, it’s kind of jacked up in the air, it’s kind of fugly for a wagon.
I take that back, if you cover up the wheels and fenders it looks pretty good, but the proportions of the big wheels, tiny tires, big gap to the big black fender lip is really not a good look.
I miss my 740 turbo wagon.
Sad day as my 2002 V70 and my 2016 V60 Cross Country were excellent cars and some of my favorite that I’ve owned. I only hesitated to buy the current generation as I don’t love the idea of an overstressed, small turbo engine for long term use.