Volvo could be switching to real names
The firm's upcoming flagship-caliber all-electric utility vehicle should feature a nonalphanumeric moniker.
Could Volvo be pulling a Lincoln and switching to real names for its future products? Going by a report from our friends at Automotive News, the Swedish brand may be in the process of dropping its long-running alphanumeric nomenclature.
On Wednesday during a presentation about the company's upcoming electrified future, an event where it revealed the Concept Recharge EV, announced future battery technologies and talked about its new Android Automotive OS-based infotainment system, Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson said the company's upcoming all-electric flagship will not carry the XC90 moniker. "This car will have a name, more like a child," he noted. Whether that means it will be called Sven or Abigail or something more evocative like the Climate Cooler XL or the Ice Age Initiator remains to be seen.
But why go with a new name when XC90 is already so solidly established? Well, Volvo is doing this for a number of reasons. First, the battery-powered utility vehicle rides on a new platform, will only be sold online and comes standard with lidar for better safety. Beyond that, it will eventually offer advanced hands-free driving capability and, like a Ford F-150 Lightning, be able to power your home during blackouts since it will be capable of bidirectional charging. Pretty important stuff, and thanks to its space-saving EV architecture, this new flagship-caliber product should offer a sprawl-out-spacious interior.
This new, all-electric utility vehicle's name will be unveiled when the production model debuts, likely next year. The machine is expected to be built at Volvo's factory in South Carolina with deliveries kicking off in 2023. Curiously, this will not be the only product to feature the Swedish automaker's new naming convention. According to the Automotive News report, the company's upcoming EV onslaught will also benefit from the same nomenclature. These future vehicles will be built atop Volvo's new second-generation Scalable Product Architecture.
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