The safe-as-a-house and practical Volvo XC90 went on sale in the USA in 2004, and soon became the brand’s top-selling model in North America. This may have resulted in some boardroom celebrations in Volvo’s headquarters in Sweden where, following the consumption of undisclosed amounts of vodka, someone said: “Hey everyone! Let’s make a V8 engine for the American market! And then we fit it into the XC90! That will sell even more!”
