Back in the time, Volvo came up with its first ever serial production All Wheel Drive (AWD) car, the 850 Estate in May 1996. And now commemorating the successful journey of 20 years of Mechanical AWD, Volvo has started working on the AWD development of first-gen Volvo XC90.
The XC90 was launched back in 2002 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit with an optional Haldex Traction Generation 2WD system. The car received a turbocharged 2.5T petrol mill while the variant with the 3.2-litre powerhouse came with AWD as standard. Although, the Swedish carmaker’s current AWD system features modular design.
Speaking on the occasion, Henrik Green, Senior Vice President, Research & Development at Volvo Cars, said, “Volvo cars are well known for what we call 'framkomlighet' in Swedish - the ability to get you wherever you want to go - regardless of the weather conditions. This is an important part of our heritage and a clear reflection of who we are and where we come from. With the recent addition of electric all-wheel drive to our top-of-the-line products, we have further refined our performance in this important area.”
Further adding he said, “Electrification will bring ever more flexibility to AWD. You can see the first signs of this in our XC90 T8 Twin Engine, where we have an electric rear-axle drive unit powering the rear wheels. As we move to full-battery electric vehicles and other powertrain applications, we will see increased opportunities to control each motor and wheel independently, based on either the surface conditions or the desired driving style.”
Moreover, the company is also working on several advancements in AWD technology in order to improve handling, stability and traction as well as the fuel economy.
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