Volvo reveals all-new XC90 SUV, and a plan for its future — finally

It's been four years since anyone could write a sentence that began "This is the new Volvo...," but: This is the new Volvo XC90 — a luxury SUV that launches an $11 billion reinvention plan for the Swedish automaker. And after seeing it from all angles at the launch in Stockholm, it looks like Volvo may have a chance to become relevant again.

The XC90 was last updated 12 years ago, or two lifetimes in the world of contemporary automobiles. But Volvo is somewhat deserving of a reprieve—the Swedish manufacturer was orphaned by Ford during the carpocalypse of 2008 and then picked up by the China's Geely in 2010, causing a lag in product development. It’s not that shocking that the marque’s flagship XC90 crossover has been on the market for just about the entirety of the 21^st century. Also, long life cycles could realistically be invoked as part of the brand’s heritage; the 240 was sold in the United States for nearly 20 years.

The exterior design of Volvo’s new seven-passenger luxury crossover doesn't break much new territory. It is round of nose and slab of side, and predictably longer, lower, and wider than its predecessor. Through the use of high-strength steel, aluminum, and composites, it weighs nearly 300 lbs less than the archaic outgoing model. Yet it looks—particularly in dark colors, which shadow some of its surface detail—like a distended Subaru Forester. What became of the gorgeous, radical, sculpted concepts Volvo has been trailing to auto shows for the past year or two? They’re paid homage to vestigially in some jeweled bits on the bow and stern.

Up front, these introduce the brand’s new face. We see a revamped version of the familiar ring-and-arrow “iron mark”—now with a more dilated hole and a pointer that aligns invisibly with the grille’s downward slash—and our first production look at the latest LED headlamp signature: a sideways T that resembles Thor’s mighty hammer. Out back we have a new LED version of their iconic full-length tail lamp treatment, now looking even more like a bloody scythe.

It is in the interior that the crossover really separates itself from the past—and from the pack. With the clean, uncluttered use of materials like nappa leathers, unvarnished walnut, aluminum, and Orrefors crystal (!), and an excellent 19-speaker Bowers & Wilkins stereo, the cabin surpasses the digi-technicality of Acuras and Lexuses, tromps all over austere rivals from BMW and Mercedes, and ends up feeling like a Scandinavian Range Rover.