It wasn’t long ago that Volvo announced that they were doing to discontinue making Estate cars. At the time, this was considered akin to the “Judas” moment when Bob Dylan performed live on an electric guitar rather than the more traditional acoustic.
There’s very little need to delve into the legacy of the Volvo Estate. You don’t have to be that old to have at least one memory of being a passenger in a Volvo estate or, for the younger audience, simply seeing one on the motorway loaded down with luggage and a week’s worth of food for the whole family.
Yes, the Volvo estate was the ultimate family vehicle. That is, until it was replaced so resolutely by the SUV. Make no mistake, it could be argued that Volvo dominated the SUV landscape with the remarkable success of their 7-passenger XC90 SUV. Lest we forget that the first iteration of the XC90 lasted for a seemingly unheard of 15 years before being replaced by the Gen 2 variant. Further, at a time when sedans and estates had lost their lustre the XC90 almost single handedly saved Volvo from going bankrupt.
And yet, fast forward from 2022 when the then CEO first announced the discontinuation of the humble Volvo Estate to the new, but former, CEO (who re-took the reins on March 31st), stating that the company was going to do a U-turn and re-launch the estate and… presto! An old flame flickers.
While SUVs continue to dominate car sales the world over, the estate could re-establish itself as the go-to vehicle for families. Now hear me out before you cry “Nonsense! People will never give up the roominess and high-up feeling that only an SUV gives!” For context, it’s certainly not news to anyone that the uptake of electric vehicles has been lack lustre at best. I won’t go over the reasons for this, but suffice it to say that the original concerns surrounding mass adoption of EVs remain completely intact: They’re too expensive, the charging infrastructure is poor, and the battery range remains inadequate for the majority of families.
And yet, despite the reluctance of the masses to switch to the (allegedly) more environmentally friendly EVs, consumers are indeed environmentally conscious particularly when it comes to their car – no one really wants a car that spews out black smoke from the tailpipe. And yet there’s another metric that is gaining traction – the size of a vehicle. Simply put, people today are aware that big vehicles, with their big tyres and poor aerodynamics ultimately leads to greater CO2 emissions. Will this result in a shift away from SUVs in the near term? Not likely… But if the likes of Volvo have re-introduced estates into their line-up then, at the very least, this presents another option for families. The Volvo estate joins Audi, Mercedes, and BMW in the premium estate category that are certainly up to the task for today’s modern family.
All this to say, before replacing your current SUV with another one, give some thought to the humble estate – you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the driving characteristics, styling and general practicality. And thanks to their better fuel efficiencies courtesy of lighter weights and better aerodynamics you’ll be doing your bit for the environment, too.
