Luxury and power seamlessly delivered with green cred

Since its revival, Volvo has been a disruptor in the luxury car business and the story in India is not much different. The Swedish brand has successfully managed to wean away even first time luxury car buyers from the German trio. It has established itself as a serious contender in a segment, in which, buyers are otherwise easily swayed by the traditional choices. And Volvo is being successful in establishing its luxury credentials - safety and eco-friendliness already being its trademark traits.

In a clear attempt to push up that aspirational quality to the brand, the company's Indian arm has launched it’s most powerful and yet most eco-friendly car ever; it also happens to be the country’s first plug-in hybrid sports utility vehicle. The XC90 T8 Excellence, initially to be available in a 4-seater configuration, is said to be the most luxurious vehicle ever made by Volvo during the 89 years of its existence.

The new plug-in hybrid XC90 model also has other firsts to its credit. It is the first passenger vehicle with rated CO2 emissions per kilometre being less than 50gms. It is also the first vehicle in India to be allowed the use of radar for adaptive cruise control. Till now, radar bandwidths were not opened up for private use and so though a number of existing luxury cars are being sold worldwide with adaptive cruise control, in India they had to be stripped of this feature.

Being a plug-in hybrid, the XC90 T8 is the world’s cleanest 7-seater (option will be available later) SUV that delivers 49 g/km CO2 backed with an electric range of up to 40kms. But, if you are wondering whether it will qualify for the Government’s FAME incentive scheme, it will not, since this will be an import. Volvo officials claim that they are going to be in discussions with the Government for incentives.

The XC90 T8 Excellence is built on Volvo’s Scalable Product Architecture (SPA). The SUV’s relatively small 2.0 litre, 4-cylinder petrol engine is both supercharged and turbocharged and delivers 320hp. Along with the electric motor delivering 87hp, the combined 407hp and 640 Nm of torque is said to be best-in-class. With instant torque from the electric motor, the SUV clocks 0-100 kmph in 5.6 seconds, pretty quick for a full-size SUV. The hybrid powertrain offers three selectable driving modes – Pure, Hybrid and Power.

Pure: In this mode, when the high-voltage battery is fully charged, it serves as the car’s sole energy source, powering the electric motor over the rear axle. The all-electric range is up to 40kms; enough for most customers’ daily work commute. In all-electric mode the emission is zero. It also has a regenerative braking system; this mode is super-efficient in stop-and-go traffic. If more power is needed, the petrol engine starts up automatically.

Hybrid: This is the default mode, suitable for everyday use. Here, the vehicle will automatically alternate between drawing power from the Drive-E engine and the electric motor to deliver the optimum overall fuel consumption and segment best CO2 emissions of 49g/km (European Cycle).

Power: Here, the performance of the combustion engine and the electric motor is combined to offer better torque at lower revs, equivalent to that of a large displacement engine like a V8. In power mode the priority is on performance and response.

The four-seater XC90 T8 Excellence which was presented to us has a cabin covered with extended leather surfacing, Nappa leather seat upholstery, and hand-crafted crystal glasses and gear-knob, from famous Swedish glass maker Orrefors. The massage functions are available in all seats and the glass behind the rear seat blocks the noise from outside and gives a serene experience. The battery is centrally located in the tunnel of the car so that no boot space is lost. A Bowers & Wilkins audio system that adds an extra speaker to its 19 speaker system is said to be capable of high fidelity sound.

In terms of design, the T8 Excellence maintains the standard XC90 design overall. The Excellence comes with bright décor door cappings, dual integrated tail pipes, a panoramic powered sun roof, and the signature T-shaped ‘Thor’s Hammer’ DRL lights.

The recent delicensing of certain frequencies of radar has enabled Volvo to introduce radar based safety features. The Excellence is equipped with 360 degrees radar and inputs from camera activate a range of pre-emptive safety functions in addition to adaptive cruise control, and include lane departure warning, and collision warning with full auto-braking for pedestrians, cyclists, other vehicles and large animals. The tech is also used for other features such as blind-spot detection, rear collision warning and park assist.

Volvo is also offering two charging stations included in the Rs 1.25 crore price of the T8 Excellence. These charging stations will be installed by Volvo experts at locations of customer choice. A full charge will take 2.5 hours.

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