Volvo Has Built Its First Electric Sedan

Plus, TVR has lost the exclusive rights to build the Griffith sports car at a Welsh factory.

Volvo S90

Adrian Padeanu

By: Adrian Padeanu

Dec 22, 2023 at 9:00am ET

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Volvo kicks off pre-production of the ES90 in China, and TVR's long-awaited Griffith seems even more unlikely to happen.

This is AM Drive, Motor1's daily look at the news you need before you get in your car.

Volvo Starts Pre-Production Of An Electric Sedan

After several SUVs and a quirky minivan, the next Volvo to get the electric treatment will be a sedan. Swedish publication Teknikens Värld – which flipped the Mercedes A-Class in the infamous moose test in 1997 – has managed to obtain an image published on the automaker's intranet. The image with the car hiding under a cover (with "CONFIDENTAL" and "TOP SECRET" written all over it) was taken inside a factory located in Cixi, a city located in the Zhejiang Province of eastern China.

The EV is internally codenamed "V551" and believed to be officially called the "ES90." It has been developed on the same SPA2 platform as the EX90. The internal memo also included some preliminary technical specifications. The Volvo ES90 is allegedly going to be 196.4 inches (4990 millimeters) long with a massive wheelbase spanning 122.1 in (3102 mm). It's said to be 60.9 in (1547 mm) tall and 76.5 in (1945 mm) wide. Its claimed footprint makes it a direct competitor for the BMW i5, Mercedes EQE, and the future Audi A6 E-Tron.

The brand's first electric sedan apparently weighs somewhere in the region of 2,600 kilograms (5,732 pounds) in the dual-motor AWD variant and 2,500 kg (5,511 lbs) for the single-motor RWD model. It has a large 111-kWh battery, which is no surprise since the EX90's pack has the same capacity. Range is rumored to reach 373 miles (600 kilometers) for the single-motor model, but that's probably in the China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC).

Series production is allegedly starting in May 2024.

Six Years After Its Reveal, The TVR Griffith Doesn't Have A Factory

2018 TVR Griffith

September 8, 2017 – that’s when the reborn TVR Griffith was revealed. More than six years have passed since then, but the sports car remains a pipe dream. In fact, the situation is looking even worse now because the company has lost the exclusive rights to build the car at the Blaenau Gwent plant in South Wales. During a meeting held on December 5, the Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council's Place scrutiny committee decided TVR would not be favored anymore to set up shop at that factory.

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South Wales Argus quotes corporate director for regeneration and community services, Ellie Fry, saying: "(TVR's) exclusive rights to be able to rent the Techboard building have now lapsed. They (TVR) could still rent it if they wanted to, but it will actually go to the market as well. They have not said anything about TVR and whether they have decided not to come or still want to come. The Welsh Government have just decided they will put the building on the market."

Since revealing the Griffith in 2017, TVR outlined plans for an electric version of the coupe. The announcement was made in 2022 when the troubled company also mentioned an electric sedan and SUV, but we haven't heard anything since then. We're still keeping our fingers crossed TVR is coming back, but we're honestly beginning to lose hope.

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Sources: Teknikens Värld, South Wales Argus

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