Volvo has rolled out a new SUV in the XC90 family called the XC90 T8 that offers buyers all the performance they expect with a SUV, but is much better for the environment. The XC90 T8 has emissions levels on par with a small car according to Volvo thanks to the plug-in hybrid powertrain the SUV features under the hood. The Volvo car is built using a Scalable Product Architecture platform and Drive-E petrol powertrain.
That gives the big seven seater SUV 400hp under the hood with ultra-low emissions in the area of 59g/km and fuel efficiency of 2.5L/100km. Fuel economy on the US driving cycle is 59 MPGe. While the car is fuel-efficient and produces little emissions, it still packs performance under the hood with the ability to go from a standstill to 100km/h in 5.9 seconds.
Volvo builds in five different driving modes for the car so that the driver can choose the mode to suit their needs. The mode includes hybrid using the 2.0L 4-cylinder and electric motors for fuel economy. Pure electric mode has a range of 40km on electricity alone. Power mode gives all available power to the driver. AWD mode gives constant AWD on demand.
Save mode allows the driver to freeze the battery level in the packs and save the electric propulsion for later to use with Pure Electric Drive. The 4-cylinder engine is paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission. Volvo uses a 65kW battery pack that is placed in the central tunnel of the car so it doesn't affect storage and people hauling space inside the car. Pricing and availability are unannounced at this time.