Volvo XC70 reborn as long-range PHEV wagon

Details about the revived Volvo XC70, which will be sold exclusively as a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV), have been revealed via regulatory filings in China.

Volvo showed off the XC70’s exterior at the beginning of this month, but didn’t provide any technical info about the new model, except that it will offer “extended range plug-in hybrid” drivetrains, and be the first Volvo vehicle to use the automaker’s new Scalable Modular Architecture (SMA).

Car News China has now unearthed many of the details about the XC70’s drivetrain via its Chinese road compliance filing.

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At the heart of the XC70’s plug-in hybrid drivetrain is a 120kW 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine developed by Geely and Volvo, and manufactured as part of a Aurobay joint venture with Renault.

This engine is already seen in a bunch of Geely and Lynk & Co models, in which it’s usually paired with a three-speed automatic transmission. No details were published about the XC70’s electric motors, but the car can reach a top speed of 180km/h.

Two battery options will be available. The base spec has a 21.22kWh LFP battery that’s said to offer 100km of pure electric driving range under the generous CLTC standard.

More expensive variants will be equipped with a 39.63kW NMC battery that supposedly provides 180km of EV driving, again using the CLTC standard.

Versions of with the smaller battery weigh around 2110kg, while the longer range option tips the scales at 2275kg.

Measuring 4815mm long, 1890mm wide, 1650mm tall, and riding on a 2895mm wheelbase, the XC70 sits between the 4.7m-long XC60 mid-size SUV and the 4.95m-long XC90 large SUV. Height is about the same as the vehicles that bookend it, while the XC70 is fractionally narrower than both.

Depending on the trim level, the XC70 rides on 19-, 20- or 21-inch alloy wheels.

So far the XC70 has only been confirmed for China, where orders will begin later this year. Volvo says it will explore “potential additional markets at a later stage”.

When it arrives in showrooms, it will mark the revival of a nameplate that’s been dormant since the mid-2010s. The XC70’s lineage dates back to 1997 when the V70 Cross Country or V70 XC made its debut as a high-riding, all-wheel drive variant of the V70 wagon, patterned after the highly popular Subaru Outback based on the Liberty wagon. 

It wasn’t until after the launch and success of the XC90 that the company finally settled on the XC70 name.

Starting in 2016, Volvo simplified its model naming structure around the 40-, 60- and 90-series, eliminating the likes of the V70/XC70 and S80. It also reserved the XC prefix for its SUV-like crossovers, with lifted wagons reverting to the Cross Country moniker. 

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