Volvo goes SUV-only in UK as all saloon and estate cars axed

"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.”

Volvo recently published its global sales figures for the first half of 2023, revealing that its most popular car – an SUV – outsold its entire saloon and estate range by a margin of nearly 70%.

The S90 was the most popular of the now-discontinued cars, with 23,000 sales over the six-month period. The S60 accounted for 18,000 and the V60 just over 16,000. The V90, however, notched up just 7100. 

The best-selling Volvo XC60, meanwhile, sold 106,000, remaining hugely popular even in its sixth year on sale. 

With all saloons and estates taken off sale, Volvo now sells exclusively SUVs. The closely related XC40 and Volvo C40 Recharge open the current range, while the mid-sized XC60 fills the gap between them and the seven-seat Volvo XC90.

The future of Volvo's non-SUV models has long been unclear. The firm has committed to offering a pure-electric range by 2030, with new EVs due at a rate of one per year until then.

The new EX30 crossover will land later this year, followed by the seven-seat EX90 in 2024 and a successor to the XC60 in 2025. 

Beyond that, Volvo has given no categoric indication that it will directly replace its comparatively slow-selling S and V model lines with EVs, although boss Jim Rowan has hinted that lower-slung models will return.

“Suffice to say we play across all the spectrums and range, and we have customers who require different vehicles and different uses for vehicles," he said. "We will try and make sure that we can capture as much of that as we possibly can.”

However, he added that having "40 different models" wasn't Volvo's strategy and that the line-up would be designed to cater to segments in the most demand. 

"We’ve teased what’s coming next and we had already signalled we would do a smaller SUV," he said prior to the unveiling of the EX30. "Then different formats, saloons and estates or whatever: we will get to that when we get to that.”

Previous CEO Håkan Samuelsson suggested Volvo's future lay predominantly in SUVs back in 2021 when he acknowledged that "people are really fond of high seating positions".