It’s a sad day indeed when Volvo, once the ultimate purveyor of steadfastly practical wagons, decides it’s not worth the effort of offering saloon or estate cars in the UK. Especially off the back of what it described as a ‘solid’ second quarter. But the warning signs have been looming for a while: the S90 had already disappeared from UK showrooms - now the firm has today confirmed that the S60 saloon, the V60 and V90 estates will follow it into the sunset.
“We continue to rapidly transform our product offer, which means not only moving towards full electrification, but also shifting to new platforms and technologies across all our cars. We will naturally need to evolve and consolidate our line-up as we prioritise fully electric cars and make this technological transition," noted an official statement.
"As a result, we have removed further models from the UK line-up. These include the S60, V60 and V90. Demand for our existing SUV line-up continues to grow, while interest in our forthcoming fully electric EX30 and EX90 models is strong. Meanwhile, appetite for our saloon and estate models has fallen to very low levels in the UK, which has led to our decision to remove these models from sale in the UK.”
So it’s the market what’s done it, guv’nor. Well, yes and no. Volvo is blaming the market - and the shifting sands of buyer preference is well documented and hard to argue - but there is hardly any question that the firm’s non-SUVs have suffered for its (understandable) investment elsewhere. Had the S60 or V60 been made exceptionally good to look at and drive, Volvo would likely have sold more of them. It did not and they were not. Still, for anyone with a lingering affection for a liveried 850 or tidy-looking T5 R - which is most of us, right? - what an ignominious, fizzle-out way to end an era…
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