The desire to return to more physical buttons was driven by feedback from customers and media, who haven’t appreciated the reliance on touchscreens in Volvo’s latest models. Volvo is “not going away from touchscreen,” the design boss noted, “it’s just to use the screen for what it’s good at”.

Being the biggest Volvo ever will also make the new SUV the brand’s most spacious car ever, and it’s almost certainly going to feature three rows of seats. But as we’ve seen with rivals such as the Audi Q9, there’s presumably going to be a version with cushier captain’s chairs to suit the chauffeur market.

When it comes to making its new cars feel as premium as possible, Ingenlath and his team may look to the Chinese market because, “In China, there's an incredible level of expectation when it comes to premiumness and luxury. 

“I enjoy working together with our design team in Shanghai,” he said, “getting as well the demand from our salespeople there and from our Chinese colleagues, who really are pushing us to go beyond what we are used to doing when it comes to luxury, features and comfort in the first and especially the second row.”

Ingenlath hinted that these insights will not only aid the six upcoming models Volvo is developing exclusively for China. The design chief also aims to integrate these lessons across global line-ups, delivering new standards of "luxury and premiumness,” emphasising that “we definitely have to keep fighting and making that a strong aspect of our brand."

As previously announced, Volvo’s CEO Samuelsson is stepping down soon, with current Skoda CEO Klaus Zellmer set to take the big chair no later than October 31, 2027. It’ll be very interesting to see how much of a priority he makes this new extra-luxurious flagship SUV.

In the meantime, you can save as much as £17,000 on a brand-new Volvo XC90 when you buy it through the Auto Express . 

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