For a company that once made its reputation on long-roof wagons and dignified, low-slung sedans, Volvo’s current showroom looks suspiciously like a luxury crossover dealership. Five of its six model lines are SUVs, and even the one that pretends not to be—the ES90 electric “sedan”—sits so tall it could borrow ground clearance from a Subaru Outback.
But that might finally be about to change.
Volvo’s new SPA3 electric platform, debuting under the upcoming EX60, has been engineered to do something no modern Volvo EV platform could do before: build a genuinely low car. And not “low for an EV,” but low like a proper S60 or V90—roofline, seating position, and all.
In other words, the age of Volvo’s electric baby SUVs might be coming to an end.
The Real Problem with Today’s EVs
The reason so many electric sedans look like lifted hatchbacks isn’t fashion—it’s physics. Most current EV platforms (including Volvo’s SPA2) are adapted from gas-car architectures. That forces the battery pack to live under the entire passenger cabin, which raises the floor, which raises the seats, which raises the roof, which turns everything into a crossover whether you like it or not.
That’s why the ES90 rides roughly eight inches higher than the old S90. The battery is basically a giant slab under the cabin, so everyone has to sit on top of it.
SPA3 fixes that.
Because it was designed as a pure EV platform from day one, Volvo’s engineers were free to move the battery, crash structure, and cabin around like chess pieces. And that changes everything.
Batteries That Don’t Dictate the Car’s Shape
The breakthrough is deceptively simple: SPA3’s battery doesn’t have to live only between the axles.
Volvo moved the front crash structure forward and reshaped it so battery cells can now sit ahead of the firewall, spreading part of the pack under the hood instead of under the rear passengers. That frees up space in the rear footwell, letting the floor drop lower—just like in a gas-powered car.
That’s how cars like the Porsche Taycan and Audi E-tron GT achieve their low seating positions, and now Volvo can do it too.
The result?
Rear passengers no longer sit on a battery pedestal. The roof doesn’t have to be taller. The windows don’t have to be stubby. The car can finally look like a sedan again.
Volvo Can Now Build Anything
According to Volvo CTO Anders Bell, SPA3’s design removes the one thing that has been holding modern EVs hostage: a flat, full-length battery slab.
Instead, battery cells can be added, removed, or repositioned depending on whether the car needs to be tall, low, wide, or sleek. Even the scuttle height—the base of the windshield—can be raised or lowered.
Volvo can build SUVs, wagons, sedans, MPVs, and sleek low-riders on the same bones.
And Bell didn’t hide what that really means.
“We can do low. We can do sleek. We can do high. We can do MPVs… It’s all in the cookbook.”
That’s engineer-speak for: we’re no longer trapped in SUV land.
The Return of the Electric S60 and V90?
Volvo won’t officially confirm an electric S60 or V90 yet, but the implications are obvious. SPA3 could easily support a low-slung sedan sibling to the EX60—effectively an electric S60 in everything but name.
And that matters.
BMW is working on a new i3. Mercedes has a C-Class EV coming. Audi is preparing the A4 E-tron. If Volvo wants to be taken seriously as a premium EV brand, it needs something that isn’t shaped like a refrigerator on stilts.
SPA3 finally gives Volvo the hardware to do it.
The Most Important Volvo Platform in a Generation
For the last decade, Volvo has followed the market into SUVs. SPA3 gives it a way back out.
It’s not just a new EV platform—it’s a reset button for what a Volvo can be. If demand exists, Volvo can now build cars that sit low, look elegant, and drive like real sedans and wagons again.
And for anyone who misses the days of S60s and V90s carving through traffic instead of towering over it, that might be the most exciting thing Volvo has done in years.
Source: Volvo
