I attended a brunch with the leadership of Volvo Cars yesterday, and the frank and plain-spoken CEO Håkan Samuelsson captured my attention with the answers to two questions. The first was whether or not we’ll ever get a wagon again and the last, my question, was what the hell the company is going to do with its South Carolina factory.
Being frank and plain-spoken doesn’t mean spilling all the beans, and Samuelsson managed to not commit to any specific body styles, but there’s a way to read his responses as an admission that wagons are in Volvo’s future. It’s also basically confirmed that a three-row vehicle is coming to America, designed for America. That probably means an SUV, but I’m hoping it’s a van.
I am en route to a Ford event this morning to see something Bronco, and the Ford people might be cheering the fact that the company’s new energy company, Ford Energy (clever!), has found a customer for its batteries. The world is a strange place these days, and while everyone was concerned about Chinese brands infiltrating Canada, the most obvious outcome is non-Chinese brands importing Chinese-built cars.
That’s not the case in Australia, where BYD is absolutely cleaning up in a world of high gas prices, and companies like Toyota are losing.
Volvo Won’t Just Be SUVs In Five Years
Yesterday’s event was ostensibly about the US debut of the Volvo EX60, a capable-seeming and fast-charging electric crossover with a super cool charging door. There was a lot of talk about the EX60, of course. That wasn’t all the talk, though.
Credit to Road & Track‘s Will Sabel Courtney for grabbing the microphone early in our brunch-side conversation (I had a juice) and asking the question everyone wanted the answer to: Will Volvo bring back the wagon?
The last Volvo wagon is on its way out in the United States and disappearing globally, being replaced by a bunch of crossover-like objects. As an enthusiast, this is not ideal. It’s very easy to say ‘Oh, no one will buy these,’ but Volvo has always done well by finding niches in the market. Constantly trying to compete in the most competitive market segments is going to be a tough game.
Samuelsson, who was CEO and then not-CEO and then CEO again, was excited to grab the microphone and answer this question, stating that in ten years he doesn’t think “We’ll only have SUVs from Volvo.” That’s not quite saying that they’ll all be wagons in the future. He then added that the lower air resistance is a big reason why wagons are appealing from an EV perspective. Later he sped up the timeline by stating “I think we will not only have SUVs five years from now.”
There’s some interesting timing to this question. Unlike a lot of European automakers, Volvo has a factory in South Carolina. A factory that, for various reasons (EVs, sedans), has been underutilized. Exactly what’s going there has been a little vague.
I got the last question at the brunch and, having ingested a spicy Thai flatbread, I realized as I was about to speak that I had a huge lump of phlegm in my throat. Would I be able to talk at all? Suppressing panic I attempted to speak and no sound came out. I made an awkward throat-clearing sound and asked about the South Carolina factory’s under-utilization and what might be done about it.
“I agree with you,” Samuelsson said, adding that “You either use your factory or you don’t have a factory.”
“We need to fill the factory, that’s the first option and best option. We will bring in the XC60 at the beginning of next year.”
That much was basically known. What he added was well-speculated, but I’m not sure I’ve seen confirmed.
“We are developing a car with the US market in sight, which should be a big seller, [a] bigger car probably, probably a third-row, family-oriented, which also needs to be multi-fuel execution,” he said. “With such a big car it’ll be difficult to go directly only to electric, so this is a car we’re looking into.”
The obvious guess here is that it’s a three-row crossover. Everyone loves a three-row crossover, and right now Kia, Hyundai, and Toyota are owning the hybrid three-row space. Can I suggest something else fun? If we take the answer to the first question, that people are tired of just having SUVs, could it not be a van?
For the Chinese market, Volvo has already made a Zeekr rebadge that’s called the Volvo EM90. Chinese cars exist in their own development universe, so it’s unlikely that the Zeekr-badged EM90 will be sold here. Whatever we’re getting is going to be built in America, for America first (although, as Samuelsson pointed out, the tariff deals now mean that it’s almost free to export cars from South Carolina).
Why not a van? It’s an open space that Volvo hasn’t historically filled but that there might be an appetite for. This could just be journalist-brain, but imagine an ID.Buzz that’s a hybrid or EREV? That might be the ticket.
Nissan Could Bring Chinese-Built Cars To Canada
Canada has decided to allow Chinese cars into the country under a special program, and while it’s not a huge number of cars to begin with, I think the expectation has been a lot of Chinese brands like BYD and Geely showing up. Instead, it’s maybe Lotus and Nissan who could get there first given the existing dealer network.
For Nissan, that could be cars from its JV with Dongfeng. Here’s Bloomberg on that possibility:
The Japanese carmaker aims to tap demand for low-cost, electric vehicles manufactured with Dongfeng Motor Group Co. in several markets, including Brazil and Mexico — and potentially including Canada, Christian Meunier, Nissan’s head of the Americas, said in an interview.
“In Canada, the government has opened the door for some Chinese products,” he said, although he didn’t specify which Nissan Dongfeng models were under consideration for possible export to Canada, or how soon that might take place. “We’re looking at this.”
Get ready to buy an N6!
Australia Loves Chinese Brands, Everyone Else Is Hurting
Gas prices in Australia are incredibly high, and with that price increase have come with an appreciation for Chinese cars and trucks. Now data is showing that Chinese brands are growing way faster than pretty much everyone else.
China’s BYD logged the biggest increase in unit sales in the January-April period, according to recent figures from Cox Automotive, selling 13,269 more cars than the same period a year ago. Chinese peers Chery, Geely, GWM and Jaecoo rounded out the top five.
On the other side of the ledger, market leader Toyota saw the steepest sales decline in the period, of 17,502 units, followed by fellow Japanese manufacturers Mitsubishi, Nissan, Mazda and Ford of the U.S.
“There’s a cost-of-living crunch and more and more people are trying to buy something with electrification, and both of those things are so suited to the Chinese brands,” said Mike Costello, an industry commentator at Cox Automotive. “They’re cheaper than everybody else and they do hybrids and EVs really well.”
Obviously, Japanese brands still make up 40% of the market, and Chinese brands have the most room to grow, but they’ve been here for years and these are becoming larger and larger numbers.
Ford Energy Gets Its First Customer
Realizing it might not quite need all the battery capacity it built up, Ford shifted some of its domestic battery production into Energy Storage Systems (ESS) under a new company called Ford Energy.
Now, they’ve got a first customer, as the Detroit Free Press reports:
On May 18, Ford Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford, said it signed a five-year “framework agreement” with EDF power solutions North America to make battery energy storage systems for EDF.
EDF power solutions North America is an entity of the EDF Group, a French government-owned multinational electric utility company that produces low-carbon electricity. It especially focuses on using nuclear and renewable energy.
Ford Energy President Lisa Drake said the agreement with EDF power solutions validates the market’s need for a battery energy storage supplier such as Ford, which combines its industrial-scale manufacturing knowledge and experience with accountability.
While there’s been a general distaste for renewable energy in the current White House, the reality is that it makes a ton of sense. The major negative argument against renewables is that solar, for instance, is diurnal. Having energy storage mitigates a lot of this challenge.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
It’s Skin Cancer Awareness Month and our friends at XPEL are celebrating with National Don’t Fry Day, so I’m going to do a week of beach songs. Today, it’s “Summer Babe” by Pavement.
Observed annually on the Friday before Memorial Day, National Don’t Fry Day raises awareness about the dangers of ultraviolet (UV) radiation and promotes sun-safe habits as Americans head into summer. In recognition of the occasion, XPEL is offering 15% off automotive window tint installations at participating authorized dealers and company-owned stores across the U.S. on May 22 only.
The Big Question
What non-SUV should Volvo build next?
Top photo:Volvo
I’d like to see Volvo do a proper successor to the 1800ES, sexy Italian shooting brake body, RWD, 2+2. They won’t, but it would be cool
Brand known for wagons that recently discontinued their wagons now promoting wagons.
Ford Energy?
Is that a part of the Red Bull Ford powertrain partnership?
Will the cans be oval shaped? And blue?
Volvo should make a freshened V60 and V60CC, plus a V40. And they – and all Volvos – will all have amber rear turn signals, no more of this chintzy-looking red BS.
Volvo 200 series-inspired van!
“Australia Loves Chinese Brands, Everyone Else Is Hurting”
Let’s not forget that the reason for that situation in Australia is because Ford, GM and all other major automakers abandoned auto manufacturing there.
So with no more local industry left to protect, the Australians opened the trade door wide open for any automaker who wanted to import cars there.
Well well well if it isn’t the consequences of their actions.
The Dildo of Consequences strikes again!
As to the Volvo question, PHEV V90. Done. Moving on.
I think the pivot to stationary batteries is a good one. I would certainly love to have more home battery options available to me. Let’s have one that has an integrated level 2 charger built in, why not?
What should Volvo make? A slow brown wagon. RWD with a manual. Duh. Enough with the horsepower wars make it last 3 million miles.
Username checks out. Make it so!
That was the P1800, not a wagon.
Oh I know. And 3 million was hyperbole that just happened to have a real life example. Just something B18 bombproof (or need modern fuel injection and emission so B23 bombproof without the biodegradable wiring). Adjascent recent topic. We all seem to love solid, mechanical doors, it needs solid door handles – why are 200/700/900 doors like a vault and the handle hardware made of pot metal? – those fail even before the wiring harness.
The inside or outside door handles?
I never heard of problems with the outside handles. My 740 door cards were sort of fragile at the dozen year mark but that was mostly the plastic apparently getting less cross linked with age, never noticed inside door handle problems.
My Ford F100 on the other hand went through so many Zamak inside door handles that we had the local fabrication shop make some out of 10 gauge steel.
Zamak is great stuff, the design was really obviously terrible with stress concentrated on one spot that probably was weak from the casting process to start
One of my when I get a round touit projects is to cast a Zamak guitar body.
It’s the internals. The door handles fail from the outside function and you replace those plus some bits. The wagon hatch handles will totally fail, I had mine rigged for a bit but you could sometimes only make it work from the inside after removing the panel and reconnecting bits, so it was an adventure. Part of the failure i think from the stress risers where the holes are for the early auto-lock-all-doors mechanism. On the doors I bought afermaket, on the hatch I fit one from a later model sadly the 84 was sexy chrome late gen is chunky and matte black and you have to rplace the whole handle but now it works.
Oh, that linkage stuff. And the anchors for the linkage stuff.
That’s the weak point of so many things from shifter linkages to doors to throttle linkages.
I was replacing that stuff so much for a while I just started replacing it all with cheap heim joints. So much easier, and not much more expensive. That and a plate to attach it to.
Fast brown wagon, that would be the shit!
Does anyone sell brown cars except Porsche? Well I see that Porsche only has metallic browns. Bummer. Coffee brown was a great color.
Ferrari. Hoping for a GTC4 Lusso in Bronzo Montecarlo for the mystery door on Fridays shitbox showdown. Model is discontinued but you can still get the color. Still metalflake though. Too bad Fiat discontinued the espresso color.
Steve McQueen’s coolest car. A present from his wife.
My brownish gold Volvo 740 turbo wagon was a present from my wife
We were having a heated discussion about how we needed a car to replace the W123 that had just died, and the turbo wagon with a for sale sign was driving past on broadway. I said “that would be nice” , the traffic light turned red, and my wife ran into the street and bought it.
So I guess I have that in common with Steve McQueen. Had not thought of it before.
Oh! Nobody asked, but that’s my exact 240 wagon in the topshot, down to the wheels off a 740 Turbo. Of course, mine’s not in that shape, nor does it have the wheel center caps. Nice pic tho! 🙂
There is a guy on Etsy who paints classic cars in watercolor, and I had him make me a circa 85/86 240 wagon with those wheels in burgundy and a tan interior. That’s not period correct, but it’s what I wanted. Not Louvre masterpieces but he’s affordable and fun, Herbert Hatchback.
Also, if you are a velour member, Torch will send you an awesome custom drawing on your birthday! (Matt, you know where to send my shifter hoodie for the shameless plug)
A pothole on the west side highway ate one of those wheels off my 740 turbo 25 or so years ago, and they were so expensive to replace I freaked out. Funny thing was that within a week of street parking with the steel spare on it had enough offers to buy one or two wheels that I sold the three remaining wheels, bought a set of Borbets and bigger Extza tires, and had a couple thousand left over.
Yah, I haven’t actually been able to bring myself to shop for the missing center caps for those exact wheels, fearing a heart attack.
I didn’t mention it, but mine’s silver like that one too though the clear coat is mostly cooked off by now. Here’s a pic of it at the Wagonfest attended by some Autopians the other weekend:
https://imgur.com/a/U0UqvKe
Those are not 740 wheels. That’s an 83-85 245T with the appropriate Virgos.
Now, I did HAVE 240 T Virgos on my 89 744 GL, and they did look fantastic…
As a former 1984 245T (intercooled) owner, agreed.
Give us a sports sedan again
Give us a sports shooting brake again!
Give us something that’s not an SUV again!
The radar truck would probably be a huge seller under one of the brands. Some kind of van might be interesting too. A hot hatch in 2 door and 4 door. Polestar 1 was neat but but didn’t sell all that great. It fit the original idea for polestar. I understand they want to keep Volvo as a premium. But they might need to think about going down market a bit with something. Polestar or bring in another brand to handle that. They always did well with 2 door convertibles. While I think a hybrid to bev all road wagon would be great and tie into a big part of their history I have no idea if there is real an actual market for one now. People who want big seem to go SUV or truck. People or want smaller are much more open to anything. That sort of leaves the big full size wagons in nomans land at least in the us.
What should Volvo make next?
Elise (NHRN): A luxury 3 row SUV…
Matt: hybrid…
DT: that’s off-road capable…
Silvestro: with a manual transmission…
Torch: and has a canvas folding top…
Torch: and amber taillights…
DT & Torch together: with a spot in the cabin for a five gallon gas can.
Does that about sum it up?
(Ed: Adrian’s contribution was, um, too colorful.)
Torch: And a place for my battery chainsaw.
The Volvo C303 or C304 should fit the bill, it even has a canvas top variant.
Volvo needs to bring in wagons through Polestar, the advantages of the wagon format are much more obvious in an EV and could actually lead to a market edge over crossovers, because EV’s are primarily judged by range, and if a wagon can achieve more range than a same-priced CUV, or the same range with fewer battery cells to hit a lower price (at least $5k difference), it could be a real winner, especially as batteries become more compact and no longer require the compromised skateboard format.
Thanks for that top pic, the side profile of a 245 is an exhilerating sight to me. I get emotional just thinking about how perfect Volvo brick wagons are. I dream of upgrading from my 06 V50 to an early 90s 940.
What should Volvo make next?
How is the answer anything but “new version of a P1800 Sportwagon”?
I am not sure about all this wagon/saloon/Suv/crossover/van thing.
A Volvo Dymaxion with drop down doors? Now that would be a thing.Cars do not have to look like cars to be cars, a Twingo is not a Dueusenburg, so, another thing may be be a thing.
Don’t tell the non-Autopians, but I’ve noticed that things like the Equinox EV look a lot more like a wagon than a crossover already. I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to full wagon proportions, but the shift has already started.
I noticed the same thing with the Cadillac Lyriq – 64″ tall and 195+” long with 7″ clearance. Getting pretty similar to my Allroad at 60″ tall 195+” long and 5-7″ of clearance.
Our Ioniq 5 is classified as an SUV but it’s definitely an oversized hatchback and not an SUV
TBQ: maybe they should be build a luxury pick-up truck.
Volvo 740 turbo wagon.
This is the clear answer.
Came here to say exactly that. I will add: “With three pedals.”
You misspelled “940”. 🙂
Though of ALL the Volvo wagons I have owned (8 in total), the best one to drive was actually the 965. Though not the best one to own, that goes to the 945s.
Volvo should build a new 480ES.
(480EV?)
But bring it to the US this time.
I approve of this idea, if they can make it as reliable as the original 480ES.
Is the “vintage re-imagined” thing completely over? Volvo could do a modern take on the first gen 240 wagon.
there’s a fine line between wagons, suv, and minivans these days. it’s all aesthetics.
My joker moment was when I found out the BMW i3 was classified as an SUV
That’s some bollshiet right there lol
I don’t know if it’s just a Seattle thing but Volvo SUV drivers have taken the crown of Worst. Unpredictable while aggressive, never going the speed you want them to.
What they should build: ’90s station wagon. Minimum sheet metal changes to meet modern safety standards. Drivetrain agnostic.
I thought I was the only one. Volvo drivers were the worst pedestrian menace after cabs, and that’s 35 years of studying.
they know they are bad drivers, that’s why they drive volvo’s.
China is going to kick everyone’s asses once they are allowed to enter a market. I don’t know what their sales are in Mexico, but when I went in 12/2024, there were none. As of last month, BYD, Geely and GWM are everywhere.