Nearly Unrecognizable 2020 Volvo XC90 Bows With Novel Mild Hybrid System

You wouldn’t know it, but that’s a heavily refreshed 2020 Volvo XC90 staring back at you from the header image. Good thing the grille still carries a Volvo badge.

Okay, the tweaks made to the SUV’s front fascia are milder than chain restaurant salsa, but the changes to the Swedish brand’s largest vehicle for 2020 are more than skin deep. For the upcoming model year, Volvo rolls out the first of its B-badged vehicles. What’s B? It signifies the presence of a kinetic energy recovery system designed to boost fuel economy by up to 15 percent.

A mild hybrid, in other words, but not the belt starter-generator type you’re used to.

Volvo began development of a Flywheel KERS system back in the early part of the decade, hoping to use technology developed for F1 racing in its passenger car lineup. With this system, braking energy is transferred, via a brake-by-wire system, to a carbon fiber flywheel, which quickly spins itself up to 60,000 rpm. When the driver switches pedals, the rear axle-mounted system sends the energy captured by the flywheel to the wheels via a specialized transmission. View a layout here.

In past years, Volvo claimed the system could add as much as 80 horsepower to the vehicle’s output, aiding in acceleration or reducing engine load at speed.

The system will be used in combination with existing powertrains; 2020 CX90 models equipped with KERS will carry a “B” badge. As part of the company’s plan to offer electrification throughout its range, Volvo says the system “offers drivers up to 15 per cent fuel savings and emission reductions in real world driving.”

Other Volvo models, starting with the XC60, stand to gain the system. Note that Volvo claims the B-badged models won’t come to the U.S. straight away.

At the top of the range, the T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid returns for those seeking maximum fuel savings.

Other than KERS, a revamped grille, and other cosmetic tweaks, the company’s midsizer gains a six-person seating configuration for 2020. That means there’s now a four-, five-, six-, and seven-person layout. Safety improvements come in the form of steering assist, which is added to the model’s City Safety and Blind Spot Information System. Volvo boasts that its City Safety with Autobrake “is still the only system on the market to recognise pedestrians, cyclists and large animals.”

Joining that tech for 2020 is Volvo’s Oncoming Lane Mitigation system, which first appeared in the XC60. Meanwhile, the SUV’s Cross Traffic Alert gains automatic braking.

Had Jeff Bridges driven a 2020 XC90 in Fearless, Rosie Perez would never have overcome her intractable grief.

The new XC90 which starts production in Sweden this May.

[Images: Volvo Cars]