First Look! Volvo’s New Köttbulle Minivan!

Volvo is all about safe family travel, so it’s no surprise the Swedese (Swedish/Chinese) automaker is adding a minivan to their lineup.  The eight-passenger Köttbulle, which is Swedish for “meatball,” joins Volvo’s other cars and crossovers for the 2018 model year.

Here’s what we know:  Like the rest of Volvo’s lineup, the Köttbulle, which, for some reason, rhymes with “Bakfylla,” is powered by a 2.0 liter, 250-horsepower turbocharged, supercharged and overcharged four-cylinder engine bolted to a transmission and some other stuff.  

Front-wheel-drive is standard, but top-line models will be equipped with what Volvo calls, “pretty much all-wheel-drive.”  It also features, as the law now requires for all minivans, a handy built-in vacuum cleaner with dozens of crevice attachments including a beaver grooming tool and 90-foot-long hose.  

The Köttbulle’s dashboard is covered in a lovely blonde perforated faux plywood that closely mimics the rich grains of the Scandinavian Goat Willow.  Parksplug editor Pigeon Neezlehoff thought the spacious interior had the pleasant aroma of pickled herring mixed with decayed Naugahyde.  

Pricing information for the Köttbulle has not been revealed, but Volvo Marketing Manager Zander Belt said the base model will start around 438,317 Swedish Kronor, which wasn’t really helpful.