They’re calling it a “consolidation” but what it amounts to illustrates the massive shift in consumer auto preferences that’s taken place over the last few decades.
Autocar UK is reporting that Volvo has killed sedans and wagons in the UK, as slumping sales in those models have led the Swedish automaker to a crossover- and SUV-only offering.
If you look back at Volvo, it’s fair to say that the company likes to strike when the iron is hot. When its competitors were revealing longer and slower timelines as they dipped a toe into the fully electric market, Volvo went all in: committing to be an electric-only company by 2030.
Here it seems Volvo is seeing the writing on the wall for its slower moving models, including the S60, V60 and V90, the appetite for which – Volvo told Autocar UK – “has fallen to very low levels.”
Volvo elaborated that the company’s rapid transformation “means not only moving towards full electrification, but also shifting to new platforms and technologies across all (its) cars” adding, “We will naturally need to evolve and consolidate our line-up…”
And the evidence backing up the decision is compelling: Volvo first half sales figures have shown that its most popular UK vehicle so far in 2023 – an SUV – has outsold its entire range of sedans and wagons by a margin of nearly 70%.
And that’s left observers wondering if US customers might also expect that Volvo eliminate these smaller options in the near future. As Jalopnik’s Lawrence Hodge points out, in 2022 Volvo sold just 102,000 cars in the US the whole year – down 16.5% from the year prior.
He encourages Volvo enthusiasts to “enjoy those Volvo wagons while you can.”
