New Volvo XC90 (2014) previewed by Volvo designers

Volvo’s designers have started to play with designs for the New Volvo XC90, which we expect to see in 2014.

The Volvo XC90 is still a capable cross between a luxury SUV and a Crossover (as we discovered recently when we played with the XC-90 R-Design for a week), but it is now very ancient.

Launched in 2002, the XC90 has soldiered on essentially unchanged (bar some tweaks and the R-Design options), yet despite that it’s still a credible option with some very appealing traits. But it’s well past time to reveal a new XC90.

Plans have been afoot for some time to launch a new XC90, but Ford’s financial problems put paid to that when they were calling the shots at Volvo. But with China’s Geely now in control of Volvo the plans to replace the XC90 are back, and the image above is the first imagining we’ve seen from Volvo of how the new XC90 could look.

In fact, Volvo has revealed four takes on the new XC90 theme to Car & Driver, but as they all look pretty similar – and this image is the best – we’ve just used that (but jump over to C&D if you want a look at the others).

But whichever image of the new XC90 you look at, it makes it clear that Volvo are moving forward with a much slicker version of the XC90 but, sensibly, one which evokes the current car.

Volvo may not yet be decided on just how the new XC90 will look, But what we do know is that the new XC90 – when it arrives in 2014 – will be underpinned by Volvo’s Scaleable Platform Architecture, which is expected to underpin just about everything in Volvo’s future range from the C30 to the S80.

We also know that the 5-pot engines Volvo currently uses in the XC90 have but a short time to go before Volvo moves to an all four-pot (or less) range of powerplants in a quest to keep economy, emissions and weight in check.

But as the new XC90 is likely to be at least as big as the current XC90 – albeit lighter – it’s fair to assume that any four-pot in the new XC90 will come aided by forced induction or an electric motor for a hybrid XC90. Don’t bet against an XC90 EV either.

If Volvo can come close to the success of the current XC90 with the new model they’ll be happy bunnies.