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- Volvo plans to offer a luxury electric MPV in 2023, CarNewsChina reports, suggesting possible plans for the use of another model under the Geely umbrella for the effort.
- The Zeekr 009, revealed late in 2022, could serve as the basis of the Volvo model, offering as much as 511 miles of range courtesy of a 140-kWh battery.
- Luxury MPVs are a popular segment in China, with a number of automakers (including Buick) offering exclusive models in the country's domestic market.
For quite some time Volvo has seemed like the kind of automaker that would have success selling a minivan if it offered one. The company has certainly had a grip on the premium station wagon segment for decades, and we've sometimes heard car shoppers wonder aloud why the automaker hadn't offered a minivan or something close to a large crossover in the style of the Mercedes-Benz R-Class.
CarNewsChina now reports the automaker, part of Geely's constantly growing group of brands, is planning just such a model, and that it will be electric.
The publication revealed a screenshot of a product planning slide, alleged to be from a press briefing in China by President of Volvo Cars Greater China Sales Company Qin Peiji.
The electric MPV is likely to be based on the Zeekr 009, revealed just a few months ago, and is likely to be offered solely in China, where luxury MPVs have been popular for a couple of decades.
What could such a model offer?
If it will stick pretty close to the specs of the Zeekr 009, we could see a twin-motor AWD layout powered by a 116-kWh battery, enough for 436 miles of range in the CLTC cycle. An even larger 140-kWh battery by CATL could give it a range of 511 miles in the same cycle, also making it the longest-ranged electric MPV by a wide margin. The Zeekr 009 will also serve up 536 hp and 505 lb-ft of torque.
At least that's the range Zeekr promised for its planned electric model, which we suspected would not remain solely in Zeekr's lineup for long, as Geely has certainly gone on a platform-sharing spree among its various brands.
But could such a model ultimately interest buyers in Europe and North America?
There are certainly electric vans making their way to dealer lots, but they're not minivans, especially luxury ones. Mercedes-Benz has been an early leader in this segment, mostly with European buyers in mind, while Ford has been producing the E-Transit in passenger van form and others since 2022.
So Volvo wouldn't quite be the first to market in this broader category, or even the first to offer a luxury electric minivan in China. But it does point to a steady demand for such vehicles in China, often used as chauffeured VIP vehicles.
North America, on the other hand, will likely have to wait a while to see at least one electric minivan in the market, despite such a bodystyle being well suited to a large battery underneath a high floor. There have been reports of future all-electric versions of the Chrysler Pacifica and Kia Carnival minivans, and the VW ID. Buzz is all-electric, too.
SUVs and large crossovers have upstaged this segment since the 1990s, with the entire US minivan market being down to just a handful of holdouts. This is perhaps unlikely to change anytime soon, although the first automaker with an electric minivan stateside—were it to risk fielding one in the first place—would own that segment unless another manufacturer joined in.
Should Volvo offer an electric minivan in other markets, including Europe and North America, or have minivans diminished to a point where an EV makes no sense? Let us know in the comments below.
Jay Ramey grew up around very strange European cars, and instead of seeking out something reliable and comfortable for his own personal use he has been drawn to the more adventurous side of the dependability spectrum. Despite being followed around by French cars for the past decade, he has somehow been able to avoid Citroën ownership, judging them too commonplace, and is currently looking at cars from the former Czechoslovakia. Jay has been with Autoweek since 2013.
