Volvo Hasn’t Forgotten Its S90 Sedan—But Americans Soon Will
The updated S90 is built (and largely bought) in China, so it won’t be coming here.
Aaron GoldWriterApr 21, 2025
Refreshed Volvo S90 sedan 1
Volvo has updated the internal-combustion-powered S90 sedan for 2026, and the changes largely echo what we saw in the updated-for-2025.5 XC90 SUV, the brand’s other large-scale vehicle complemented by a new EV analogue. The S90 gets a new front fascia with a diagonal-theme grille, a reshaped front clip, and new headlights and taillights. Inside, the S90 gets a much-needed screen upgrade, with an 11.2-inch portrait-oriented screen sitting atop a new-look dashboard. The infotainment system runs the new software from the EX90 electric SUV with provision for over-the-air updates. Under the hood, the S90 offers both plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and mild-hybrid (MHEV) powertrains, and sound insulation has been improved. New wheels and new paint colors round off the list of updates.
We’ve tried to keep the description above short, because reading it, we are sorry to tell you, has been a complete waste of your time. The 2026 S90 will be built in China—and, indeed, it is aimed primarily at the Chinese market—and as a result will not be coming to the United States. One would imagine this is largely due to the tariff situation (ever-evolving, but unlikely to get better with regards to anything coming from China), but it probably doesn’t help that S90 sales in the U.S. are so slow as to be practically nonexistent. S90 sales have averaged around 1,800 cars per annum over the last four years. Americans buy twice that number of XC90s every month.
Refreshed Volvo S90 sedan 9
China, meanwhile, buys S90s at about the same rate we buy XC90s. Sales in Europe, where the S90 is a little ungainly for the narrower roads, fall somewhere in between, but closer to U.S. numbers than those out of China. It makes sense that Volvo would build the S90 in the place where it’s going to sell.
There is some good news: The Volvo V90 wagon will live on in the States, at least in mildly SUV-ized Cross Country form. However, if you’re one of the few thousand enthusiasts who cannot live without a big Volvo sedan, you have two choices. You can either rush to your local Volvo dealer like your butt was on fire and buy one of the remaining 2025 S90s, or you can await the arrival of the ES90, Volvo’s upcoming electric sedan, which is to the S90 what the EX90 is to the three-row XC90 SUV—except the updated XC90 is still being sold here, of course.
Refreshed Volvo S90 sedan 4
Aaron Gold
After a two-decade career as a freelance writer, Aaron Gold joined MotorTrend’s sister publication Automobile in 2018 before moving to the MT staff in 2021. Aaron is a native New Yorker who now lives in Los Angeles with his spouse, too many pets, and a cantankerous 1983 GMC Suburban.