Volvo has previewed its first-ever people mover, which will be offered exclusively with electric power.
The Volvo EM90 will make its global debut on November 12, 2023, with pre-orders opening for Chinese customers on the same date.
The new people mover has been developed for the Chinese market, but the company says additional markets will be discussed at a later date.
The company has released a single teaser image of the EM90, revealing its two sunroofs and distinctive tail lights.
While we haven’t seen the interior yet, Volvo promises it will be thoroughly comfortable.
“The Volvo EM90 is our first ever fully electric premium MPV, and is designed for you to make the most of the time spent in the car, like a Scandinavian living room on the move,” the company says in its press release.
Spy photos captured in China and published by Car News China in July show what appears to be a heavily camouflaged version of Volvo’s upcoming people mover.
This prototype closely resembles the Zeekr 009 electric people mover. Both Volvo and Zeekr fall under the umbrella of Chinese automotive giant Geely.
The two people movers’ silhouettes are virtually identical, with boxy lines and expansive greenhouses.
The front-end styling is different to the Zeekr 009 however, with this spied Volvo people mover getting a similar LED lighting arrangement to the EX30 and EX90 electric SUVs.
Given this spied Volvo people mover and the Zeekr 009 share a lot of their exterior styling, it’s expected their underpinnings will be the same too.
The Zeekr 009 rides on Geely’s Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA), and offers a choice of 116kWh and 140kWh batteries supplied by CATL.
Quoted range figures are 702km and 822km, respectively, albeit both on the generous CLTC test cycle.
Regardless of the battery, the 009 produces 400kW of power and 686Nm of torque from its dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain.
That gives it a claimed 0-100km/h time of just 4.5 seconds – heady performance for a boxy people mover. It also has a relatively slippery drag coefficient of 0.27.
All models ride on a “high-performance” air suspension set-up, with double wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension.
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Zeekr 009 -
The 009 measures in at 5209mm long, 2024mm wide, and 1848-1856mm tall, with a 3205mm wheelbase. This is almost identical to the new LDV MIFA and its electric MIFA 9 counterpart.
It’s also slightly longer than the Kia Carnival, while it has a properly premium interior with heated and ventilated captain’s chairs for the first two rows, finished in Nappa leather and Ultrasuede upholstery.
Screens in the Zeekr 009 include a 10.25-inch unit ahead of the driver, a 15.4-inch touchscreen display, and a 15.6-inch adjustable central ceiling screen. There are also 3.4-inch touchscreens on the sliding doors.
The 009 also offers matrix LED headlights, dual sunroofs, power sliding doors, colour-adjustable ambient lighting, and a 20-speaker Yamaha sound system.
Luxury people movers are a hot commodity in Asia, particularly in China.
Lexus recently introduced a new-generation version of the Toyota Alphard-based LM people mover, which will be launched in Australia in December to battle the Mercedes-Benz V-Class. The latter is also offered with an electric powertrain under the EQV nameplate.
