Volvo Car USA will stop importing the S90 sedan over a growing trade war between the US and China, Automotive News reports.
Built at Volvo’s Daqing, China assembly plant, the S90 was already a slow seller before tariffs were implemented. The company sold just 1,364 examples in the US last year.
“It’s a low-volume car for the US,” an unnamed insider familiar with the matter told Automotive News. “Rather than deal with [the tariffs], they are just going to cut it out.”
We’ve reached out to Volvo for confirmation, and to see whether the S90 will remain on sale in other markets.
As of April 9, the Trump administration levies a 125-percent import tariff on Chinese goods, including vehicles. As Auto News points out, that’s five times higher than the 25-percent tariff charged to vehicles imported from anywhere else in the world. For Volvo, that would make the S90—already an aging vehicle in a shrinking segment—an impossible sell in America.
Photo by: Volvo
Instead, Auto News‘ insider says Volvo will turn its focus to its biggest sellers: crossovers like the XC90, the XC60, and the XC40. The Swedish brand will also reportedly cut incentives on current offerings to help bolster funding for future tariff expenses. Still, it’s going to be an uphill battle for the company, as 96.8 percent of its cars sold in America were imported from abroad.
The S90’s untimely demise in the US is the latest in a string of major disruptions for the foreign car market. Lotus, JLR, VW, and Audi have all paused shipments to the US to further assess tariff impacts, as the Trump administration seems content to adjust the rules depending on the weather that day.
We suspect the S90 won’t be the last victim of these tariffs. Things are only going to get stranger from here.
