Plush Volvo V90 station wagon unlikely in NZ world of SUVs

February 12, 2016 by Alastair Sloane

Leaked photos of the new Volvo V90 station wagon show it is more streamlined than the boxy V70 it replaces – but pictures are all New Zealanders might get to see of it.

The Volvo people here are undecided about bringing in a premium station wagon in a world of premium SUVs, including Volvo’s own XC90.

“We’re not too sure,” said Motorcorp Distributors general manager Stephen Kenchington. “It’s a tough segment to get any traction. We’ve seen it, we like it, it’s beautifully finished, hugely desirable, but we don’t know if it will work here.”

Kenchington said the distributors were looking more at the Cross Country variant of the V90, the higher-riding replacement for the XC70.

“The New Zealand market can’t sustain both models, so we are not in a positive position on the V90 wagon,” he said.

The arrival of the S90 sedan in New Zealand later this year will preview the look of the V90 and its Cross Country variant, certainly in terms of the cabin design which promises to be as plush as the XC90’s.

The front of the car V90 looks unchanged from the S90, with the ‘Thor’s Hammer’ LED headlight designs and a central grille first seen on the XC90.

The V90 draws heavily from the design of the ‘Concept Estate’ Volvo unveiled at the 2014 Geneva motor show. The shoulderline swoops upwards towards the rear, and the sloping windscreen and rear roof spoiler lip add extra presence.

The S90 sedan, V90 wagon and the Cross Country model are underpinned by the same SPA platform as the XC90 and will be powered by the SUV’s range of turbocharged Drive-E four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines.

If you are in a position to shell out upwards of NZ$600,000 for the 60^thanniversary Porsche 911 S/T or optional Porsche 911 S/T Heritage, you’ll no doubt want the signature titanium watch that goes with it. That’s how Porsche figures it anyway. Or, if you want the watch you’ll need to get the car. Both the car and the watch are limited to 1963 units, the year the original 911 model broke cover. The watch – Chronograph 1 911 S/T and Chronograph 1 911 S/T Heritage – and the car carry matching edition numbers. The watch is priced at $US13,500, or around $NZ22,200. The car, says Porsche NZ, starts at $NZ608,000. A “strictly limited number” will go into production for NZ early next year.

Eight European Union countries are pushing to weaken new EU emissions limits for cars, saying they are overly ambitious and unrealistic for carmakers to hit. The eight countries – France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – said in a joint paper that parts of the proposed Euro 7 regulation, including curbs on exhaust pipe emissions, should be scrapped entirely. They said the limits would force carmakers to invest in improving exhaust emissions performance, money which would be better spent on developing zero-emission vehicles. Taken together, the countries would have enough votes to block the proposal.

A go-anywhere EV concept for the US military uses an onboard 12kW diesel generator to top up the batteries on the move. The all-wheel-drive has 800-volt technology and a 200kWh battery pack to power three electric motors, two in the rear and one up front. Claimed output is 745kW/15,590Nm, or 1000hp and 11,500 ft-lb of torque. The four-seater was developed by the defence division of General Motors and is based on the platform of the Hummer SUV. It rides on Fox performance shock absorbers and 37-inch tyres and comes with “exceptional” approach and departure angles for off-road mobility. Maximum range using the generator to keep things ticking over is said to be around 500km.

The outside temperature in Midland, Texas, was 40.5C when staff at the local office of the US National Weather Service set out to show the cabin of a closed car can literally get baking hot in summer. They mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and laid them on the car’s dashboard – the surface of which showed a temperature of 87.7C. A little over four hours later the cookies were ready to eat. “Even though ours weren’t golden brown, we can confirm that they are done and delicious,” the staff wrote on Facebook.