Volvo has a celebration. It proudly announces that it has built its four millionth car on the SPA platform. The star of the show is the XC90, an SUV that, like the platform underneath it, has been around for a long time.
Thanks in part to parent company Geely, Volvo has a choice of many modular platforms to build its cars on. The EX30 sits on one of the many variants of the SEA platform, as does the Volvo EM90, which is not available in the Netherlands. The XC40, EX40, and EC40, positioned above the EX30, in turn, are built on the CMA platform. Then there are also pieces of hardware called SPA2 and SPA3, which you will find under the Volvo EX90 and ES90 and under the upcoming EX60, respectively. The SPA platform adventure began in 2014 with the first generation Scalable Product Architecture (SPA). This platform is still in use, and Volvo has now built its four millionth car on it.
You are likely familiar with the first generation of Volvo’s SPA platform. It underpins the latest generations of the Volvo S60, V60, S90, V90, XC60, and XC90. The Polestar 1, limited to just 1,500 units, and the Lynk & Co 09—a sister model of the XC90, which is not available in the Netherlands—also sit on a variant of the SPA platform. The four millionth Volvo built on the SPA platform is the long-standing XC90. It recently rolled off the production line in Torslanda, Sweden. Fun fact: the XC90 was also the very first model on the platform Volvo is now celebrating.
Volvo holds the SPA platform dear. “SPA initiated the transformation of our company into a modern and premium brand,” says Michael Fleiss, Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Volvo. “To this day, it remains the foundation for some of the most successful Volvo models in history and continues to evolve as we further improve it.” So, it seems the SPA platform is far from over and done with.