Volvo Is Slowing Down Production of Its Station Wagons

Volvo made wagons decades before its iconic 200 Series made them a subculture in America and across the world, as well as a signature for the brand. Except, now, it’s an SUV world, and the car maker seems to be slowly easing its way toward not making a station wagon at all.

The company told Autocar that it would stop making the V90 in September, confirming rumors from earlier this year that said Volvo would stop making the midsize luxury wagon globally. That would leave, in the U.S., just the V60 in its lineup in terms of station wagons. And while it seems likely that the V60 will stick around for now, it wouldn’t be a surprise, either, if that car eventually met its demise, too, given that station wagons are an increasingly rare breed and, these days, Volvo seems pretty focused on its bottom line.

“Rather than bring a V90, for example, are we better to position [the XC60] in a slightly different way?” Former Volvo CEO Jim Rowan said earlier this year, per Autocar. “We have the Black Edition, we have the Cross Country edition. So we then now have different editions of the same base car.”

A spokesperson for Volvo did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though automakers routinely decline to comment on future products, which would include any plans about the V60.

If Volvo’s station wagons are discontinued at some point, it would mark the end of a rich history in the segment for the company, which began with the PV445 Duett in 1953. It was the 200 Series station wagon—launched in 1974 and produced until 1993—that made Volvo station wagons most famous. The Volvo 700 Series, 850, and 900 Series followed. The station wagon version of the latter eventually was called the V90.

The current V90 was introduced in 2016, making it somewhat dated at this point, although it received a facelift in 2020. It is a solid if unspectacular car, which is the whole point of Volvo and station wagons, though the company has a history of making stylish and fast station wagons, too, including the 1800ES. Then there was the 850 that raced in the British Touring Car Championship in 1994, which vaulted Volvo wagons to a new type of fame.

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