Volvo Will Stop Using Alphanumeric Model Designations, Switch To Names Instead

Volvo is taking a big step away from its own history and industry trends, choosing to stop its use of alphanumeric model designations like XC90, C40, and S60. The company will instead start using phonetic names.

Speaking to Autocar, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson said that the upcoming follow-up to the XC90 will get a more emotional name than the well-recognized combination of numbers and letters.

“If you look at cars today, all of them are very ‘engineeredly’ named: XC, T8, All-Wheel-Drive, double-overhead cams – it’s all specification on the rear of many cars,” said Samuelsson.

Read Also: Volvo Hints At Next Electric XC90 SUV With New Recharge Concept

Volvo seems to be bucking the industry’s trend of alphanumeric designations. Volkswagen, with its move away from internal combustion, went from names like Golf and Tiguan towards an all letter-and-numbers naming strategy, using designations like ID.3 and ID.4. BMW and Mercedes, too, are using monikers like iX and EQS, though that’s less a shift and more of a continuation for them.

Volvo’s use of XC to mean SUVs, V to mean wagons, C to mean coupes, and S to mean sedans dates back to 1995, though. As it enters a new era, though, the Swedish automaker wants to mark the shift with new names.

“We’re talking about a totally new architecture, a new-generation of born-electric, all-electric cars with central computing,” Samuelsson said. “It’s good and clear to mark that this is a new beginning, and that’s why we’re not going to have numbers and letters, an engineering type of name. We’re going to give them a name as you give a newborn child a name.”

Previewed with the “Recharge” concept, the follow-up to the XC90 will have a radical design that eliminates “unnecessary elements” and allows for “high-precision, flush execution.” Based on an EV-only platform, the new SUV will feature advanced driver aids, over-the-air updates, and more.

It’s little wonder, then, that Volvo wants to mark the transformative vehicle with a new name. Although it will be released in 2022, Samuelsson says that a name hasn’t been confirmed yet but that the company has “a very interesting and creative discussion going on.”