After much teasing and many impressive numbers being thrown around, here’s your first proper look at the Volvo ES90, a car set to offer a laid-back Scandi alternative to the BMW i5, Audi A6 E-Tron and Mercedes EQE.
Volvo is rather proud of all the tech it’s packed into this saloon-fastback-crossover thing. At the core of the ES90 is an Nvidia Drive AGX Orin operating system, which can apparently do 508 trillion operations per second. We checked, and that’s quite a lot.
Volvo ES90 – side
Unsurprisingly, there is much talk of AI functionality, which will either interest you or cause you to sigh in despair and wonder why we keep having this stuff shoved down our throats without asking for it. In the case of the ES90, it powers some of the car’s safety systems.
Those systems are wrapped up as part of a package Volvo calls Safe Space Technology, which is designed to stop potential harm befalling anyone that even goes near the car. This is provided by – deep breath – one lidar sensor (that’s the taxi light looking thing on the roof), five radar sensors, eight cameras and 12 ultrasonic sensors, all of which are set to combine to make sure everyone’s out of harm’s way outside and in. Apparently, they can detect movements as subtle as a baby’s breathing, so if you regularly find yourself in such a rush that you leave your own offspring in the car, the ES90 has you covered.
Volvo ES90 – rear
What about actual car stuff? Well, the ES90 is based on the same SPA2 architecture that underpins the seven-seat EX90 SUV as well as the Polestar 3. We don’t have the exact figures yet, but you can get a single-motor, rear-drive version with a 92kWh battery, and regular and Performance dual-motor models with a bigger 106kWh battery.
With that bigger battery, it’ll manage a quoted 435 miles on a charge thanks to its fish-like 0.25cd drag coefficient, and go from 10 to 80 per cent in 20 minutes on a rapid charger, thanks in part to its new 800V electric architecture. Underneath, there’s active dual-chamber air suspension that should help keep things nice and smooth.
Volvo ES90 – rear
As for the looks, you’re bound to have your own opinions. Clearly, the traditional three-box saloon is on its last legs, because the ES90 is part of the increasingly common breed of fastbacks, and has some definite crossoverishness about its looks, too.
The inside is typically Volvo minimalist, with a huge 14.5-inch portrait infotainment screen dominating proceedings and an enormous panoramic roof. We don’t know about you, but we’re already feeling more relaxed just looking at it. Although that might change when we start trying to grapple with the total lack of buttons.
Volvo ES90 – interior
It’s now available to order across most of Europe, with UK pricing starting at £73,250, and while it sits in largely the same size bracket, it won’t yet serve as an outright replacement for the hybrid S90 – that car’s got a few more years in it yet.
