I'm Brian Cooly here in Los Angeles where Volvo is giving us a first taste of their new XC90 SUV.
The model name's been around before.
This is a completely different car.
This is a major clean sheet refresh.
It's the first major launch they've had since acquisition by Chinese investors.
Let's looks at what's going on under the hood because this is the most interesting part.
Here is a very small engine for a big vehicle.
Two liter in-line 4 but with a turbocharger And a super charger working at different parts of the RPM range.
and because we have a T8, the eights have plug in hybrid technology.
You can see part of that here, a big battery down the spine, an electric motor that drives the rear wheels only for extra boom.
And also for a very smart all wheel drive system on demand.
The numbers work out great.
Over 400 horse power, close to 500 pound feet of torque.
And the MPGe, the efficiency should be around 59 or 60, Volvo says.
Once the EPA rates this vehicle.
Inside the first thing you notice is an all LCD instrument panel from speed-o to to tap, to typically nav in the middle.
Over on the right, in the center console, there's your tablet like main unit, which let you swipe back and forth to go either to vehicle settings, over to infotainment, or settle on the middle in a home screen.
Very much mobile technology style user interface.
And of course, being a Volvo, they've got advanced driver assist for safety, including the ability to pick up bicycles and pedestrians, both in day and night conditions now.
They've got a rear collision tech, so if you're gonna get rear-ended the vehicle locks up it brakes and cinches you beforehand.
And they've redesigned the inside of the cabin, so if they vehicle runs off the side of the road into a rut, it's going to collapse elegantly to protect compression of your spine.
Very Volvo stuff.
Couple that with what they call a pilot assist which let's it handle stop and go traffic in terms of braking, acceleration and maintaining lane with almost no input from you.
Okay Volvo's got the XC90 the T6 with the conventional power train, that's coming to showrooms in In July 2015, here in the U.S..
And then this T8, that is the plug in hybrid tech, that's more like in October arrival.
These are about $48 to $70 some odd thousand dollar vehicles, depending on how you equip them, which power train you select.
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