A new, luxury model arrives from Europe’s Scandinavian automaker at the New York International Auto Show. Today, Volvo unveiled to North America the 2016 Volvo XC90 Excellence just as production began in Gothenburg, Sweden. This exclusive package comes with a significant price jump to $104,900 in order to bring customers an ultra-luxury SUV, with the safety and performance of a Volvo.
So, what is included in this ultra-lux Swedish SUV? To start, Volvo has ditched any notion that you may want to carry a lot of people in this vehicle. The back seats have been removed and replaced with two duplicates of the front seats. These captain’s chairs offer customers a spacious backseat with even more luxury appointments. Such appointments include: individual reclining rear seats complete with massage, seat ventilation, and increased leg room. Chauferred passengers also get to enjoy a retractable control touchscreen, folding table, a refrigerator with bottle and glass holders, a heating/cooling cup holder, and handmade crystal glasses from Swedish glass design company, Orrefors – the same company that makes the crystal gear shift handle, in case you were wondering.
Furthermore, the Swedes have added more Napa leather and open-pore wood to the backseat in order to increase the luxury feel. Backseat passengers now have a partition between the passenger compartment and the cargo area in order to give the 20-speaker, 1,400 Watt Bowers & Wilkins audio system a more isolated space to fill.
The limo-like XC90 is offered with only one power plant option, Volvo’s 400 horsepower turbo and supercharged four-cylinder hybrid T8 system. Of course, the 2016 XC90 Excellence maintains all of the impressive safety features available on the XC90 T8 Inscription, Momentum and R-Design.
Volvo points out that the 2016 XC90 Excellence also provides a “platform for innovation”. What they mean is that the new SUV will be somewhat modular in design. Possible configurations include an infant carrier to replace the passenger seat, and a Lounge Concept option in which the passenger seat is replaced by a footrest and LCD screen.
To get an idea of how the Swedish luxury SUV performs on the road, check out our first drive review of the 2016 Volvo XC90:
