What is it?
Having been one of the first to offer plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrains in its saloons, estate cars and SUVs, Volvo lauded an early lead over its mostly German rivals for anyone looking to cut their company car tax and fuel bills with an executive car they could plug into the mains. Gothenburg’s first PHEV offering was fully eight years ago now, though – and plenty has changed since. There’s now a lot of competition for plug-in hybrid fleet business, as well as much greater relative importance placed on those plug-in hybrids by the company car tax system, and model prices have steadily fallen.
So having first pitched its PHEVs as diesel-electric options, and then as quite highly priced petrol-electric pseudo-performance options, Volvo is finally getting down to brass tacks and making its bigger plug-in options a bit more value oriented. You can now opt for slightly cheaper and less powerful T6 Recharge-badged versions of the Volvo V60, Volvo XC60 and Volvo V90, and both of the ‘V’-prefixed estates will get you access to that highly desirable 10% benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax classification for your next company car.
Being the biggest and the most expensive T6 petrol-electric option of the new trio, the V90 might not be the one to do the most fleet business for Volvo, but it does occupy something of a notional sweet spot within that little line-up within a line-up. It’s got traditional ‘big Volvo’ practicality and luxury accommodation levels, as well as four-wheel drive for those who want it; but you can still get one out of the showroom with an associated CO2 rating of 50g/km or less, and at a price competitive with what you might pay for an equivalent Mercedes, BMW or Audi PHEV - so long as you don’t go mad with the optional equipment.
The V90 T6 Recharge does rate slightly less favourably for lab-test fuel economy and C02 emissions than some of its rivals, mostly because it retains the 11.6kWh drive battery that Volvo’s T8 hybrids have used for a while – and many rivals have bigger ones and greater all-electric range. What’s important to note, however, is that the car sits right on the cusp of the 50g/km BIK tax threshold; so, with the way new cars are now tested and classified for carbon emissions taking in the influence of optional equipment, if you lavish too many weight-adding and energy-sapping cost extras to your car, you’ll miss out on the tax saving you may be aiming for.
Our test car was in R-Design trim, with optional 20in wheels, adaptive dampers and air-sprung self-levelling rear suspension. Thusly configured, it qualified for a sub-51g/km carbon rating, and you can add Volvo’s various driver assistance, ‘tech’ and ‘lounge’ option packs, too, without fear, and the expensive Bower & Wilkins stereo if you want it. Ours had all of that stuff, but just a retractable towbar on top of all those things would have pushed it out of the 10% company car tax band and up to 13% instead.
Now imagine having to explain to your nearest and dearest that a towbar or some heated rear seats were effectively costing you £700 a year in tax. Doesn’t bear thinking about, does it?
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V90 Cont’d
I also forgot to say that the Volvo network is a joy to deal with ,has the newest range line up which are all excellent , and that’s not forgetting the core Values Volvo has as a brand, if I were still in the game I would be sat at a Volvo site, I guess if you want to be You or if you want to be different this Is the best choice if you still know your own mind rather than being a sheep
Volvo V90 R Design Recharge T6
After spending 30 years in the motor trade mainly as a Sales Manager I have a pretty good idea of what ‘the complete package’ looks like. Not one to join in the ‘socials’ I had to share my views on the V90 R Design . I have been running a V90 R Design pro D4 Polestar upgrade since 2018. We have a huge choice of company cars available but company policy has moved to Hybrid or Electric, Naturaly I was keen to explore the Hybrid V90 as I have found my current V90 to be the best allrounder I have EVER owned, it’s quick, well appointed great looking and doesn’t follow the crowd !! After driving the Mercedes DE300 de AMG Line Estate I found it impossible to spec, had no options on interior colours and like most of the German brands had no more than a handful of colours to it’s palette. You can build the V90 to exactly how you want it so when you spend 20,000 miles a year in it you’ve done it for you and not what makes a manufacturers live easier. When I drove the 335 bus E300 on a damp day the back end went crazy as both electric and rwd drive train are all in the same place . Not only that Mercedes, who I used to work for seem to think that it’s ok to put a great big box midway in the load area which is poor planning for an estate car. The Volvo which is naturally a fwd car now becomes Awd as a result of Electrification and retains it’s flat load area.
I cant wait until my new T6 Recharge turns up , it was a joy to drive the Hybrid on test for a few days, the car is even better than my outgoing Polestar remapped V90 !! It would be easy to follow rather crowd by going German etc but these aren’t cheap cars yet we are being more limited in how we , the consumer want them, if you want mpg, c02 emissions , top speed. And 0-60 buy the Volvo......if you want all of the above and everything else you would actually want in a car at this money.......buy the Volvo :)
This article is wrong about 4wd
This article is wrong about only Volvo currently offering a 4wd PHEV estate. Audi offer their A6 TFSIe PHEV as an estate with quattro 4wd.