Volvo is the TECH Brand of the Year – and the XC90 has ‘the most user friendly tech’

Volvo has been declared the Tech Brand of the Year in the inaugural Car Tech Awards, with the XC90 also declared to have the most friendly tech.

Volvo has won endless awards and plaudits for its new 90 Series range – XC90, S90 and V90 – since it started to rollout with the new XC90’s launch, and they can now add to the gongs Tech Brand of the Year at the inaugural Car Tech Awards.

The new awards – a joint enterprise between Carbuyer and tech website Alphr – also  recognised Volvo’s ground breaking technology in its Sensus touchscreen system on the 90 Series cars by declaring it ‘Most User Friendly Tech’, and we concur absolutely.

The Sensus touchscreen is a model of simplicity and sophistication, delivering all the information you need in very few prods and swipes, with good resolution and clean graphics. It’s also an impressive looking upright tablet.

The Tech Awards also praised Volvo’s Drive-E powertrains, and again we agree with what Volvo has achieved, although we do still miss, a bit, the noise even Volvo’s five-pot made. And we’re still not completely convinced that downsized forced induction engines are ultimately cleaner and more economical.

But Volvo’s Drive-E are as good a downsized range of engines as any other in the world, from any other manufacturer, so worthy of praise.

Also winning a gong for Volvo was the (optional) Bowers and Wilkins sound, which delivers B&W’s excellent audio with Dirac Research’s sound processing to deliver an exceptional sound experience. Not quite Naim levels, but remarkably close.

John Wakefield, Volvo’s UK MD, said:

These award wins recognise the fact that Volvo is a technological leader – not just in the field of safety, but in terms of connectivity and in-car entertainment, autonomous drive and efficient powertrains. They also show that no matter how sophisticated Volvos get, the way in which we interact with the technology needn’t be complex.