In an era in which luxury and mainstream buyers alike favor crossover utilities over traditional passenger cars, the vehicle that a car company refers to as its “flagship” tells a lot about how the brand sees itself. So we believe it is telling that Volvo, the proud Swedish brand known for its safety leadership, identifies its flagship as the four-door five-passenger S90 premium sedan.
The S90 is built on Volvo’s Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), which probably doesn’t mean much to the average buyer, but it is the platform that forms the basis for not only the S90, but also for the V90 and V60 station wagons, the XC90 and XC60 SUVs, and the S60 sedan. This means the bulk of the Volvo line has an uncommon family resemblance inside and out. It also means that, according to Volvo, the S90 is the brand’s ultimate expression of its values.