Volvo's next EV will be a sleek flagship sedan

Volvo will soon fill a hole in its fast-expanding lineup of full-electric vehicles by introducing its first battery-powered sedan.

The ES90 is set to make its debut next March, with production expected in the same year at the Swedish automaker's factory in Torslanda, near Gothenburg.

Dealers in Europe are expected to have the car late next year. In the U.S., the large electric sedan could come by 2027, according to the Automotive News Future Product Pipeline.

A dealer who spoke to Automotive News described the model as having a fastback design and a "larger presence" than the gasoline-powered S90. The EV will be offered in single- and dual-motor variants and should deliver 483 to 644 km (300 to 400 miles) on a single charge.

Volvo's full-electric portfolio has three SUVs (the EX90, EX40 and EX30), a coupe-styled crossover (EC40) and a luxury van (EM90).

Volvo CEO Jim Rowan expects the ES90 to especially appeal to buyers in China, where the automaker is targeting higher-end full-electric segments to avoid being embroiled in the country's volatile price war for mass market EVs.

"I think if you're in China right now and you're just offering BEVs [battery-electric vehicles] and you're in the low end of the market that is a tough place to be," Rowan told Automotive News Europe.

Volvo, which had to delay the debut of the EX90 by roughly two years due to software issues, said that the work it has done on its flagship electric SUV — along with and its new commitment to having a technology stack that can be improved and shared — will directly benefit the ES90.

The sedan is poised to be the automaker's big debut next year. Volvo announced Sept. 5 that starting this year it would reveal an all-new model and a mid-cycle refresh annually for the next eight years.

This year that was the EX90, which will start reaching customers this month, and the redesigned XC90 large SUV.

In addition, Volvo will roll out four sweeping software updates to its entire range of vehicles capable of receiving over-the-air upgrades. That pool of vehicles with this capability is about 2.5 million.

The ES90 will be the last model underpinned by the second generation of Volvo's scalable product architecture (SPA2), which also underpins the EX90 as well as the Polestar 3 from Volvo's Sweden-based, Geely-owned sister brand.

Starting with the full-electric EX60 premium midsize SUV, Volvo will switch to the third generation of its underpinnings, or SPA3.

Typically, an architecture or platform lasts longer than two years, and it's used for more than three vehicles. For example, the first generation of SPA debuted in 2014 and Volvo has not set an end date for the underpinnings, which are used on three 90 series (XC90, V90 and S90) and three 60 series models (XC60, V60 and S60).

SPA will also underpin the refreshed XC90 and will underpin Volvo's promised lineup of extended-range plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Volvo won't reveal how far those PHEVs will go in electric-only mode, but Volvo Chief Product & Strategy Officer Erik Severinson told ANE it would be "significantly farther" than the 70 km (43.5 miles) promised in the refreshed XC90.

He declined to say whether "significant" means double the 70 km range or more, although he said it "wouldn't make sense" for the range to be 200 km as that could discourage a customer from purchasing a full-electric model.

Rowan, however, was less concerned about a long-range PHEV being picked over an EV.

"First thing is that I want you to walk out of the store with a car," Rowan said. "My whole job as CEO is to best position the company in a very turbulent environment. We have the option to go left, go right or go straight. That is what we are trying to build."

Urvaksh Karkaria contributed