Author | Zhou Zhiyu
In 2026, traditional luxury brands are collectively seeking a new rhythm.
BMW is bringing the Neue Klasse platform's iX3 to China, Mercedes-Benz plans to launch its domestically produced all-new pure electric GLC within the year, and Audi has introduced Huawei Qiankun intelligent driving. The three companies are densely launching more than 10 new electrified vehicles.
Volvo also revealed its hand recently. At its 99th-anniversary event, the all-electric flagship EX90 went on pre-sale starting at 539,900 yuan, the ES90 started pre-sales at 429,900 yuan, and the plug-in hybrid XC70 Gratitude Edition launched simultaneously. Three vehicles, two architectures, and two technical routes were laid out at once.
From range, computing power, to intelligent driving solutions, the paths chosen by traditional luxury car brands differ, but they are basically all chasing tracks already defined by new forces. In the new energy era, this is insufficient for them to launch a brilliant counteroffensive in China.
Yu Kexin, President of Volvo Cars Greater China Sales Company, said in an interview after the event: &#34;A brand must preserve its most core labels if it is to find its footing in the market.&#34;
Volvo has placed its chips on something accumulated for 99 years—safety. When electrification has erased the technical barriers of engines and transmissions, what can traditional luxury brands rely on to regain irreplaceable competitive advantages? Volvo's move may be a sample worth dissecting.
<h2>Cards Laid Out</h2>
Volvo's two flagship models arrive in the current luxury market where competition among automakers is fiercest.
The EX90 and ES90 are built on the SPA2 native pure electric architecture, featuring global 800V systems, self-developed third-generation electric drives, and a centrally concentrated electronic/electrical architecture. With an 848 km range and 0–100 km/h acceleration in 3.9 seconds, the ES90's starting price of 429,900 yuan positions it not only against the BMW i5 but also against NIO ET7 and the upcoming pure electric GLC. The EX90, positioned as a seven-seat pure electric flagship SUV with a starting price of 539,900 yuan, directly challenges the pricing segment of AITO M9 and Li Auto L9.
Volvo knows that simply comparing parameters will hardly win back users' minds.
Its differentiation lies beneath the spec sheet. Side pole crash tests for the EX90 and ES90 involve impact speeds far exceeding the industry standard of 32 km/h and assess all risk positions on both sides; industry practice typically tests only fixed points. The DUS (Driver Understanding System) uses two 2-million-pixel infrared cameras to monitor eye movements at 60 frames per second, implementing three levels of progressive intervention: a flashing screen reminder after 3 seconds of distraction, a sound warning if distraction continues, and automatic pulse braking to stop the vehicle and call for rescue if there is no response. This system's design premise is not &#34;the driver is always focused&#34; but rather &#34;humans will inevitably make mistakes.&#34; This logic differs from the approach taken by most automakers that pile up computing power and compete on the number of LiDAR units.
Yu Kexin told Wall Street CN: &#34;The first batch of users for these two cars will most likely still be Volvo's existing customers.&#34; This means Volvo has no intention of forcibly stealing users from NIO or AITO with its all-electric flagships; instead, it aims to stabilize its own base. Fuel vehicles have already accumulated over one million users, which represents Volvo's largest stock asset in its transition to all-electric.
XC70's &#34;safety&#34; is equally hardcore. Volvo dropped the XC70 from a hot air balloon at a height of 35 meters, simulating a frontal collision equivalent to 95 km/h—1.7 times China's national standard. Choosing a swaying hot air balloon was intended to simulate the true randomness of bridge collapses or cliff falls. The result: the A, B, C, and D pillars remained completely undeformed, doors opened normally, the battery did not catch fire or explode, and emergency calls were triggered automatically. The crashed test vehicle was brought directly to the event venue.
Since its launch in late September last year, more than half a year has passed, and XC70 cumulative sales have exceeded 20,000 units, ranking in the top two among luxury plug-in hybrid SUVs priced above 300,000 yuan. Over 90% of users opted for high-trim versions priced above 300,000 yuan. These figures indicate that users are not coming for low prices but genuinely recognize the product strength of this vehicle. Brand premium remains.
Yu Kexin explained the relationship between the XC70 and the dual all-electric flagships quite directly: &#34;First, let users truly experience Volvo's new energy safety, ease of driving, and peace of mind through the XC70. Once this trust is built, when they switch to all-electric vehicles in the future, they will naturally prioritize Volvo.&#34;
Plug-in hybrids are not just fighting for current market share but are also cultivating a future user base for all-electric vehicles. This is Volvo's strategic progression.
Laying out the product matrix is only the first step. The real dilemma for traditional luxury brands in the electrification era is not their inability to produce good products—BMW's iX3 boasts solid parameters, and Mercedes-Benz's pure electric GLC is no slouch either—but why consumers would choose them over NIO or AITO once the products are available. The core question Volvo must answer is precisely this.
<h2>Returning to Safety</h2>
Yu Kexin mentioned an observation during the interview: For a long time, the industry considered the topic of safety somewhat &#34;outdated,&#34; but since last year, everyone has begun talking about safety again. Frequent intelligent driving accidents and tightened regulations have made &#34;safety&#34; a frequent word at press events once more.
However, most automakers discuss safety in the same way: developing products around third-party testing standards, achieving five-star ratings, and then showcasing them at press events. They train for what is tested and optimize for what is evaluated.
The problem is that five-star ratings are becoming increasingly easy to obtain. When almost every new vehicle can achieve the highest safety rating score, the rating itself becomes inflated. Safety has turned into an indicator that &#34;everyone can meet,&#34; rather than a capability that creates genuine differentiation. In this context, the scarcity of the question setter becomes apparent.
Volvo takes a different path.
Since 1970, Volvo has deployed teams to investigate real-world accident scenes continuously for over fifty years. Product safety standards are not developed against evaluation protocols but are deduced backward from real-world collision scenarios. Developing against test standards yields a maximum score; developing against the real world has no upper limit.
IIHS's small overlap frontal crash test originated from a test method Volvo developed in the 1990s. Euro NCAP's side pole crash and whiplash tests are also directly linked to Volvo's technological contributions. An automaker not only answers exam questions but also sets them—a capability built not on a single R&amp;D investment but on half a century of data accumulation and industry influence.
This is also why Volvo voluntarily abandoned its patent and freely opened the three-point seatbelt invention to the entire industry in 1959—its safety competitiveness has never rested on the exclusivity of any single technology but on the impossibility of rapidly replicating the entire system.
The same logic is reflected in the choice of intelligent driving solutions. Volvo selected the closed-source operating system QNX as the core OS for its assisted driving, prioritizing fault-tolerant design over feature richness.
Yuan Xiaolin, President and CEO of Volvo Cars Asia Pacific, emphasized: &#34;Our hardware already possesses advanced intelligent driving capabilities, but we cannot rush to open it to customers. We cannot let customers serve as product pilots.&#34;
Over the past two years, the gap between marketing claims and actual experiences regarding advanced intelligent driving has sparked considerable controversy. Some automakers treat intelligent driving as a marketing contest, while Volvo treats it as a safety engineering project. The divergence between these two paths is widening, and the market will ultimately deliver its judgment.
Of course, current market competition is also fierce, with luxury automakers facing pressure from declining markets. The real challenge Volvo faces is not whether &#34;safety is good enough&#34; but how to transform invisible capabilities into visible reasons to purchase.
The Chinese market will not afford any brand too long a verification window. BMW's domestically produced new generation iX3 is set for delivery by the end of the second quarter, Mercedes-Benz's pure electric GLC is also on the way, and new forces' product rhythms are even faster. Volvo's safety system needs time to prove its value, but competitors will not wait. This is the greatest tension on Volvo's path: what it holds is a slow craft, but the market fights a fast war.
Yu Kexin stated: &#34;Volvo is not the kind of brand that sets explosive prices and harvests all potential customers within three months. We must proceed step by step.&#34;
Market attention windows are growing shorter, and consumers require clearer brand labels when making choices. While everyone competes on parameters in the same race, differentiation itself is a scarce resource.
In 2026's Chinese luxury car market, every traditional brand is searching for its anchor. What follows will be left to the market to verify.

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The counterattack of luxury brands

- In 2026, traditional luxury car brands are intensifying their electric vehicle offerings, with Volvo introducing its flagship models EX90 and ES90 amid fierce competition.  
- The strategic focus on safety, built on decades of data, positions Volvo uniquely in a market where many competitors rely on standard safety ratings, which risk becoming meaningless.  
- As consumer choices narrow, Volvo aims to differentiate itself not only through product features but by emphasizing its established safety reputation while adapting to the fast-paced market dynamics.

Volvo Reveals Its Hand