Volvo’s Ambitious Double Play: The Ultimate Lounge-on-Wheels MPV and a 700-km Haulage Revolution

Volvo is aggressively expanding its footprint across the mobility spectrum, and their latest reveals show they are pulling out all the stops. On the passenger front, enter the new Volvo EM90, a premium electric MPV that is essentially promising a comfortable living room experience on the move. Coming in as the third fresh reveal from the Swedish carmaker in a span of just 12 months—right on the heels of the EX90 SUV and EX30 crossover—the EM90 is packing serious tech and premiumness to lock horns with the likes of the Lexus LM and Mercedes V-Class. Interestingly, while the MPV space is somewhat unchartered territory for modern Volvo, the brand insists it captures the core concept of versatility that’s been their hallmark for 70 years, explicitly pointing to the iconic 1953 Duett estate as its spiritual forebear.

Underneath the skin, this luxury people-mover borrows its base architecture from sibling brand Zeekr’s 009 MPV, but Volvo has entirely reworked the exterior and interior to seamlessly fit into its own Scandinavian design lineup. Designed heavily with the Chinese market in mind—where order books are already open—the EM90 brings some hefty numbers to the table. We are looking at a massive 116kWh battery pack churning out an impressive 458 miles of range on China’s CLTC testing cycle. Fast charging from 10 to 80 percent takes just under half an hour, feeding a single 268bhp rear-mounted motor that hauls this luxury barge from a standstill to 62mph in a decent 8.3 seconds. Whether Volvo will eventually offer the Zeekr’s top-rung twin-motor setup, which essentially doubles the power and halves that sprint time, remains to be seen.

But outright speed isn’t the focal point here; absolute opulence is. The prevailing priority for the EM90 is rolling refinement, boasting top-notch sound insulation, active road noise cancellation, dual-chamber air suspension, and specialized ‘silent’ tyres. Inside, it launches as a six-seater affair. The middle row gets two armchair-style lounge seats that slide forwards and backwards, electronically recline, and come fully heated and ventilated. Add in folding tray tables, individual haptic control panels, and a 15.6-inch screen dropping from the ceiling for your streaming platforms or virtual meetings, and you’ve got a proper mobile boardroom. Volvo is heavily playing up the voice assistant, too—with a single command, the entire cabin mood, from windows and air-conditioning to the lighting and screens, adjusts seamlessly to convert the space into a theatre, a meeting room, or even a bedroom.

While the EM90 is “coming first” to China, and Volvo’s UK division recently axed its saloons and estates to go SUV-only, the sheer success of the rival Lexus LM in the British market—clocking heavy advance bookings—does hint at a strong market viability for high-end haulers globally.

But Volvo’s engineering push isn’t just restricted to pampering executives in the back seat. Shifting gears to the commercial and heavy haulage division, Volvo Trucks is busy making its own massive leaps, clubbing long-haul practicality with hardcore battery and engine tech.

Ahead of the IAA, we are getting a solid look at what’s brewing for the big rigs. Volvo Trucks has finally integrated the e-axle, cleverly retaining the traditional longitudinal driveline setup at the same time. To achieve a staggering 700 km electric range, the massive battery packs necessitated a tag axle, meaning these new long-haul electric workhorses will hit the roads moving forward as 6×2 tractor units. It’s a massive step up for interstate logistics and heavy payloads.

However, despite all this electric euphoria across their passenger and commercial arms, the Swedes haven’t completely sidelined the internal combustion engine. In a rather aggressive move, the Volvo “Combustion Engines” department has practically recast the entire D13 block, head, and peripherals from the ground up. There is a bit of a bummer though—the highly efficient Turbo-Compound system is now entirely a thing of the past. It’s a real pity because those 12.8-litre D13 Turbo-Compound variants were delivering record-breaking fuel economy in tests, alongside very punchy driving dynamics. One can only speculate on the exact reasons for dropping the second exhaust turbine driving the crankshaft. Was it getting too expensive to manufacture? Too heavy? Both arguments hold water, but newer, stricter noise regulations definitely played a major role in killing it off.

Alongside the Turbo-Compound, the smaller 10.8-litre D11 engine has also been chopped from the overall lineup, with its power brackets now being entirely covered by the newly revamped D13.

But it’s certainly not all consolidations and cuts. The heavily updated G13 gas engine is bringing some brilliant news to the table. It has gained a massive bump in torque and power, tuned so perfectly that from behind the wheel, the driving feel is virtually indistinguishable from a traditional diesel rig. And here is the real kicker: the traditional diesel pilot ignition required for these engines is now officially certified for biogenic diesel, like HVO 100. This effectively means that running the G13 on Bio-LNG elevates it to a 100 percent CO2-neutral operation.