Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine gets plug-in grant – costs from £54,995

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The new Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine – Volvo’s 402bhp XC90 Hybrid – has qualified for the UK’s Plug-in grant, meaning OTR prices start at £54,995.

The plug-in car grant (PICG) from the Office of Low Emissions (OLEV) delivers a saving of up to £5k for buyers of qualifying cars, so the news that the new Volvo XC90 T8 qualifies means the starting price of the T8 is just £54,995.

Of course, £55k is still a chunk of change to fork out for any car, but it’s a remarkably low price for what the T8 delivers, and continues to deliver with big savings on running costs despite its performance potential.

That performance potential delivers 0-62mph in 5.6 seconds (although the XC90 is far from a sporty SUV, the oomph will make for good progress) together with very impressive economy of 134.5mpg and emissions of 49g/km, figures that are impossible to achieve in the real world, but that give big savings in other areas.

They mean, for example, no VED, but more importantly they have a big impact for business users.

Thanks to those miserly official numbers, an XC90 T8 will cost from under £100 a month in BIK costs for a 40 per cent taxpayer compared to, for example, nearer £1,000 a month for a diesel Range Rover.

That alone will be enough to see business buyers at the higher end tipping in to the XC90 T8 in droves, saving a big chunk of money in the process and getting impressive performance, good looks, a great luxury cabin and the ability to do up to 28 miles on the electric motor alone.

It’s all a bit of a no-brainer.