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Volvo's brawny V90 Cross Country is hiding in plain sight

Volvo V90 Cross Country teaser
Volvo has released a teaser image that previews the new V90 Cross Country, a rugged station wagon developed to replace the XC70.

The Cross Country is based on the V90, Volvo’s newest station wagon. It aims to lure crossover shoppers by offering a few additional inches of ground clearance, and a rugged design that puts an equal emphasis on form and on function. The wagon is being kept under wraps for the time being, but it’s widely expected to receive black plastic trim over the wheel arches and the rocker panels, a handful of brushed aluminum accents, and roof rails. Cross Country-specific alloy wheels will round out the look.

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It’s reasonable to assume the Cross Country will share virtually all of its mechanical components with the aforementioned V90 and the S90 sedan. That means power will come from a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine tuned to generate 250 horsepower when equipped with a turbocharger, and 316 horses when fitted with both a turbo and a supercharger. A plug-in hybrid drivetrain might be added to the lineup a little later in the production run.

The turbo four will shift through an automatic transmission regardless of how much power it churns out, and all-wheel drive will come standard, as you’d expect from a car named Cross Country. Skid plates on both ends will protect vital mechanical components when the going gets tough.

Read more: Volvo’s S60 Cross Country is half sedan, half crossover

The Volvo V90 Cross Country will make its official debut in the coming weeks, and we’ll see it in the metal for the first time during the Paris Auto Show. Volvo is one of the few brands committed to keeping the station wagon alive in the United States, so the Cross Country will join the S90 in showrooms early next year. When it arrives, it will fight in the same segment as the Subaru Outback and the Audi A4 Allroad.

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