As mentioned in our Top 10 new models at the 2017 Montreal Auto Show, Volvo made a return this year—and quite remarkably so, with the Canadian premiere of the new Volvo V90 and V90 Cross Country. These two full-size luxury wagons have stolen the hearts of visitors so far, according to our conversations with Volvo representatives.
The V90 and V90 Cross Country are equipped as standard with Volvo’s all-wheel drive system, which just turned 20. If you recall, the first AWD Volvo car to go into serial production was the Volvo 850 wagon, launched in May 1996. A year later, Volvo produced its first Cross Country model, the V70XC, paving the way for a new type of automobiles with a rugged design and off-road capacities.
Now, here’s a video that shows a winter test drive of Volvo’s AWD system on the frozen lakes and roads around the Northern Swedish ski resort of Åre:
Volvo is turning to the future, with a plan that includes lighter and more efficient components, plus the integration of electric motors.
“Electrification will bring ever more flexibility to AWD. You can see the first signs of this in our XC90 T8 Twin Engine, where we have an electric rear-axle drive unit powering the rear wheels,” explains Henrik Green, Senior Vice President of Research & Development at Volvo Cars. “As we move to full battery electric vehicles and other powertrain applications, we will see increased opportunities to control each motor and wheel independently, based on either the surface conditions or the desired driving style.”