2005 Volvo XC90 Test Drive

BMW X5 Vs. Volvo XC90

We compare two of the hottest-selling, premium sport utilities.

Volvo's XC90 was a late arrival in the so-called "crossover utility vehicle" category -- a group of sport utilities that are more like cars than trucks, and place an emphasis on styling and on-road performance -- but the vehicle has been a huge hit for the Swedish automaker.

Volvo, which is owned by Ford Motor, uses the XC90 to compete against some of the hottest vehicles in the auto business -- crossovers such as Honda Motor's Acura MDX, Nissan Motor's Infiniti FX45, Porsche's Cayenne, Volkswagen's Touareg, Toyota Motor's Lexus RX 330 and General Motors' Cadillac SRX.

Like the Cayenne, the XC90 has verified the importance of crossover SUVs to upscale manufacturers, given the popularity of the vehicles in America (Ford's reeling Jaguar brand, for example, could use one to goose sales). For the first ten months of 2004, the XC90 has been Volvo's best-selling vehicle in the United States (the best-seller after ten months in 2003 was Volvo's S60 sedan). In comparing the first ten months of 2004 and 2003, one finds that sales of all other Volvo models, except for the company's overhauled, entry-level S40 sedan, have declined.

The Cayenne and XC90 have offset sales losses posted by their companies' passenger cars. In fact, the XC90 is one of the main reasons why Volvo has posted a net increase in sales so far this year in the United States. Thanks to the success of the XC90, Volvo has had a record-setting year. It broke the company's U.S. sales records for August, September and October. In July, Volvo announced that it had enjoyed its best first-half U.S. sales ever.

BMW's X5 sport-utility has had a similar effect on its company. The SUV has been such a success that BMW has introduced a smaller companion model, the X3 -- which was not on the market during the first ten months of 2003, one of the time periods we have been examining. However, due to the X3's introduction, sales of BMW's SUVs have increased to 55,173 units in the U.S. in the first ten months of 2004, almost double the 31,958 X5s that BMW sold in the same period last year.

As with other, similar carmakers, BMW's SUVs sales have increased while its passenger car sales have been on the slide. Sales of BMW's cars declined by 4% in the first ten months of this year versus the same period last year, but -- thanks to the X5 and X3 -- the company's overall sales through the end of October stand at 213,865 this year.

With the SUVs in its lineup, BMW has been able to beat DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz -- which fields the tired M-Class -- and General Motors' Cadillac brands in sales so far this year (Lexus outsells all of those brands, though).

The Volvo XC90 and BMW X5 are two popular vehicles that have helped their brands continue to develop as sales of more traditional vehicles have let them down.