“Sometimes these adaptations can be bittersweet,” Volvo says of the shift from wagons to SUVs
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- Volvo will stop taking US wagon orders next month, ending an era.
- US production of the V60 Cross Country finishes in April 2026.
- Company will still offer wagons in other countries around the world.
It’s game-over for the original soccer-mom car. From early next year, the Swedish brand will stop taking US orders for its remaining wagons, effectively closing the book on a body style that helped define Volvo’s image for generations.
The V90 wagon was dropped from the US lineup in 2021, and if you want a new V60 Cross Country in America, the clock is officially ticking.
Related: Volvo Has Just Killed One Of Its Best Models
Orders for Volvo wagons will be accepted only until late January 2026, with production of US-bound V60 Cross Country ending in April. After that, it’s inventory scraps and memories. Volvo says a few cars should linger on dealer lots for a couple of months, but once they’re gone, they really are gone for good.
This isn’t a sudden decision. Volvo frames it as part of a long tradition of adapting to American tastes, pointing out that US buyers overwhelmingly prefer SUVs. The brand’s first SUV, the XC90, arrived back in 2003 and quietly changed everything. Since then, crossovers have done what wagons once did, only more profitably.
Cultural giants
Still, it’s hard not to feel a pang of loss – even the automaker itself calls the shift “bittersweet.” Volvo wagons weren’t just practical boxes. They were cultural objects. The brick-like 240 that hauled half of suburban America. The turbocharged 740, 940, 850 and V70 estates that embarrassed sports cars. Even the surviving V60 carries that DNA forward with a dash of Scandinavian cool.
Volvo’s argument is that SUVs are simply more useful. Easier access. Higher driving position. Better perceived safety. And, crucially, buyers keep choosing them. From a business point of view, ditching wagons makes sense, especially as Volvo doubles down on US-built SUVs like the XC60 and the electric EX90.
Yet wagons still do the same core job with less bulk, better road manners and often better efficiency. They’re lower, sleeker and quietly brilliant at covering distance. Which raises the obvious question: do Americans really hate wagons, or did they just stop being offered enough good ones?
Alive and kicking outside the US
Volvo says it remains fully committed to the US market. Just not to wagons. Elsewhere in the world, shooting brakes, estates and kombis, as they’re variously called outside of America, will live on, which somehow makes their US disappearance sting more.
So which Volvo wagon – or Volvo wagon ad – do you remember most fondly, and do you actually care that they’re going away? Or are SUVs genuinely the better tool now? Either way, if you want one last new Volvo wagon in America, you’ve got months, not years.
