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THE much-anticipated Volvo S90 was recently launched in the kingdom at a ceremony at Bahrain Financial Harbour’s Capital Club.
It’s the marque’s new premium four-door, five-seat flagship sedan, and has been built on the new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), Volvo’s advanced modular product platform that will underpin all new Volvo cars in the 90 and 60 Series.
The new vehicle marks a ‘giant step forward’ for the Swedish car maker, which is better known for its SUVs and estates.
Equipped with a host of new technologies ranging from cutting-edge safety to cloud-based apps and services, the S90 is considered by many motoring analysts as further proof of the Swedish brand’s continuing transformation.
Motorcity is the sole distributor of Volvo Cars in the kingdom and the latest launch is on show at its Sitra showroom. “With $11 billion of investment over the past five years, Volvo has completely reimagined what its vehicles are about and is now delivering on its promise of a resurgent and relevant Volvo Cars brand,” said Motorcity chairman, Waleed Kanoo.
“We are happy to be able to offer this innovative new model to our customers here in Bahrain.”
The Car & Driver website described it as a ‘svelte sedan’ which ‘mixes style with safety’ and Auto Trader reported: “In case you haven’t noticed, Volvo has exploded onto the automotive scene again with a verve that we haven’t seen in years.”
Delighted senior general manager, Dr Bijan Majidi of Motorcity, added: “The S90 has taken a big stride forwards in terms of driving dynamics, performance and ride.
“Volvo Cars has completely redesigned the Volvo driving experience from the ground up to deliver a sense of precision, engaging control and comfort. The idea is to bring something entirely new to this rather conservative segment.”
Key features include the iconic ‘Thor’s Hammer’ LED headlight design, the new grille and Volvo Iron Mark, and the expressive use of the Volvo word mark on the rear.
In the cabin, Volvo has taken cues from the success of its XC90 model and features new details on the dashboard and instrument panel, including new air blades that stand vertically on each side of the Sensus user interface.
All new Volvos are now connected, thanks to Volvo’s connectivity offering, Sensus. It delivers an intuitive touch-screen interface that combines car functions, navigation, connected services and in-car entertainment applications such as Spotify, Pandora, Baidu or TuneIn. The portrait-oriented touch screen enables easy and fast access to a host of functions and features.
The S90 is powered by Volvo’s Drive-E powertrains, including petrol, diesel and Volvo’s T8 Twin Engine, a petrol plug-in hybrid mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Volvo’s T8 Twin Engine delivers all the benefits of a high performance, low emission petrol engine with an electric motor that delivers power on demand with CO2 emissions at just 44 g/km, more than 45 km of pure electric range and a combined power output of around 410 hp.
Volvo’s City Safety Technology, standard on all Volvo models, combines automatic breaking functionality and collision avoidance systems to cover a range of potential accident scenarios and help keep drivers safe. This is further extended in the S90 with Large Animal Detection, designed to help avoid or mitigate collisions with, for example, stray desert dogs. An auto-steer functionality which helps to keep you on the road, called Run Off Road Mitigation, has also been added.
The S90 already offers semi-autonomous drive with Pilot Assist, which works up to 130 km/h on clearly-marked roads.
Off road prices start from BD15,995 for the S90 Kinetic, with the S90 Momentum from BD18,195-24,195, S90 Inscription BD19,795-25,795 to the S90 R-design at BS20,295-26,295. Please note that the Kinetic model will only be available for six months.
For more information contact Motorcity Volvo Showroom in Sitra on 17736104 or visit www.motorcity.com.bh.
