The new flagship sedan of the Volvo brand, known under the factory index, will be based on the V551, the SPA2 modular platform, the start of mass production is expected in next year.
The Swedish company Volvo Cars, part of the Chinese holding Geely since 2010, is methodically moving towards full electrification: by 2030, there will be no “hydrocarbon” models left in its production program, but for now the new “electric trains” duplicate models with internal combustion engines. So, last year Volvo introduced the flagship electric crossover EX90 on the SPA2 platform, but the “hydrocarbon” crossover Volvo XC90 on the SPA1 platform, which has been produced since 2015, is not yet going to retire; in the coming years it will be produced in parallel with the EX90.
Current Volvo S90 1/2 
Current Volvo S90 2/2
The same story will be with the flagship Volvo sedan: the electric V551 is not replacement, but an alternative to the currently produced Volvo S90. A commercial name for the V551 has not yet been chosen — perhaps it will be Volvo ES90, but it is likely that the letter combination ES will be contested by Lexus, which has used it since the late 1980s to designate its mid-size sedan.
This week, Swedish media (in particular the Teknikens Värld magazine) distributed a photo of a VP (Verification Car) test prototype of the V551 sedan, extracted from the Volvo Cars intranet, assembled in the Chinese city of Ningbo (located south of Shanghai). In Ningbo, Geely has a so-called test plant, where technological operations are being tested in preparation for mass production of new models. It is still unknown where exactly the V551 model will ultimately be produced.
Even in the spring of last year, some technical characteristics of the V551 model leaked to the Internet from China. The overall length of the new sedan is 4990 mm, width — 1945 mm, height — 1547 mm, wheelbase — 3102 mm. Curb weight is 2500-2600 kg, depending on the modification (there will be single-engine rear-wheel drive and dual-engine all-wheel drive versions). Battery capacity is 111 kWh. The range on one charge is not specified, but given that the related Volvo EX90 all-wheel drive crossover with the same battery can travel 580 km on the WLTP cycle, we can expect the V551 electric sedan to have a range of at least 600 km.
By the end of 2025, Volvo Cars wants to reach a sales level of 1.2 million cars per year, for which, in fact, it is now rapidly updating and expanding its model line. From January to November this year, Volvo Cars sold 632,701 cars worldwide (+17% compared to last year), of which only 52,161 had an electric powertrain.