ICONIC car brand Volvo is set to axe estate cars from its fleet after more than 70 years.
The family estate car has been part of the Swedish company’s heritage for years – but now the company is looking to focus on SUVs and saloons instead.
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Volvo is most known for its station-wagon body shaped car, which debuted as the Duett in 1953, so many fans are bound to be unhappy with the move.
Over the years, more than six million Volvo estates have been built and sold.
The 260-Series made estates popular in the UK in the 1970s, and then cars like the 740 and 760 became favourites in 1980s and early 1990s.
Volvo’s CEO, Jim Rowan, confirmed the company’s shift in focus, replying “yes”, when asked whether he could see a future without a traditional Volvo estate car.
Speaking at the ES90 launch in Sweden last week, Jim said: “It’s expensive to bring different models to the market, and it’s expensive to keep those models in the market.
“So, we need to make a choice: rather than bring out a [new] V90 for example, are we better to position that car in a slightly different way?
“So we have the Black Editions, we have the Cross Country editions – we now have different editions of the same base car.”
Volvo is not the first car manufacturer to stop making estates.
Back in 2017, Alfa Romeo confirmed that there would be no estate version of its family saloon models.
They decided to cull the ‘Sportwagon’ because bosses believed potential buyers would prefer SUVs.
Renault also decided to switch focus, replacing the internal-combustion-engine Megane with a new E-Tech electric variant.
Over the years, estate cars have become less fashionable, being overtaken by SUVs instead.
SUVs made up 33% of all registrations in 2024, up from just 12% a decade earlier, according to Britain’s auto trade body, The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
While Estate cars stats showing they accounted for just 110,000 new car registrations in the UK in 2023.
Other sports car brands have been axing cars due to low demand.
Maserati decided to axe its upcoming electric supercar – MC20 Folgore – due to low demand.
The MC20 Folgore, which translates to ‘lightning’ in Italian, was intended to be the brand’s electric alternative to the stunning MC20 sports car.
However, the company determined that consumer demand for an electric model of the MC20’s calibre was too low to justify its release.
The MC20 Folgore – which promised a power output and performance characteristics similar to the existing V6-engined MC20 – was originally planned to be one of six Maserati EVs set for launch over the next year or so.
But last week, news broke that the brand’s global automaker and parent company Stellantis had decided against throwing them a £1.3billion investment.
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