Volvo has confirmed plans to give both the S60 and S80 saloons a major update next year, and to follow those up with an all-new XC90 SUV in 2014.
Doug Speck, head of global marketing for Volvo, confirmed the news at the Paris motor show, although it's something of a surprise that the S60 is in for a facelift so soon after its launch. The S80, though, is long overdue for an update, with its plain front styling well and truly out of step with the rest of the current Volvo range.
Of possibly greater significance is the date set for the new XC90. The current model has been a massive sales success for Volvo since its launch in 2003, and will be a crucial cornerstone of Volvo's plans to massively expand its sales to 800,000 units globally. It's still on track to do this, despite having to slow down production in Sweden by about 10% because of the fall-off in European sales.
Even more crucially, the XC90 will be the debut vehicle for Volvo's new scaleable vehicle architecture, which will give it a Volkswagen-like ability to produce the next-generations of XC90, XC60, S60, V60, S80 and V70 all from the same basic set of components. The platform will apparently not shrink down to V40 hatchback size though (the new V40 owes a lot to the previous-generation Ford Focus) so Volvo is still seeking a partner to co-develop its next-generation of compact car.
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