Axing the Volvo V60 and V90 estates was a big mistake, says brand’s sales boss

The daddy of estate cars – Volvo – now has its V60 and V90 wagons back in UK retailers, having admitted to Auto Express it was a big mistake to take them off sale for over a year.

“When you tell a retail customer [estates] aren’t offered, they go off and buy someone else’s,” said Robert Deane, Volvo Car UK commercial operations director. Which meant a free hit for BMW, Audi, Mercedes and the UK’s biggest-selling car brand, Volkswagen, which registered 4,353 estates last year.

Volvo took the V60 and V90 (and S60 saloon) off the market in summer 2023, having seen demand dwindle to about five to 10 per cent of its total volume as more customers gravitated to SUVs. 

But sales still amounted to around 2,000 Volvos in the depressed market following the Covid pandemic, itself another factor exacerbating the wagon’s decline. With car makers facing a global semiconductor shortage due to disrupted supply chains, they funneled chips towards their most popular and profitable models and, as a result, Volvo says it deprioritised load lugger sales.  

Axing UK estates entirely was a shock move from a brand that had built a reputation on the back of them, its 1953 Duett being one of the pioneers of the bodystyle. It provoked social media outcry, with fans sharing memories of wagons that they (and often their dogs) adored.  

It was this emotional response which encouraged commercial boss Deane to revisit the decision when the former JLR and Harley-Davidson exec joined Volvo in March 2024. “I asked the team about the feedback from customers, and  looked at the remarketing [data] and saw used values were good. It made me wonder if there was a fleet opportunity.”

Special orders to police forces had never ceased, helping the business case. “We had conversations about bringing estates back to [more] fleet buyers, then I saw customers saying ‘I want them back’.” So Volvo UK started exploring a U-turn with the factory and received the green light – evidence of Volvo’s open-minded culture, reckons Deane.

As a result, three Volvo estate hybrids have reappeared in UK showrooms. The big V90, currently available from £59,280, is offered with a plug-in hybrid drivetrain. The T6 version packs 345bhp while the T8 sends up to 449bhp to all four wheels: both plug-in hybrids can cover more than 50 zero-emission miles on the WLTP test cycle.

The V60 is also available with the same T6 and T8 engines, or there’s a mild-hybrid petrol B4 with 194bhp priced at £41,370.  

Our network of trusted dealers across the UK has a wide selection of used Volvo V60 and V90 estate models for sale right now...