Volvo introduced the 960 in 1990 as a replacement for the former 700 series in two body shapes: sedan and station wagon.
Four years later, the lineup received a facelift.

By the ’90s, Volvo was already known for its large station wagons as if they were built for IKEA, except that the Swedish station wagons were older than that furniture chain-store. Also, Volvo was known for its safe vehicles and, despite some imagination in the design department, were appreciated for their robust construction and reliability.

The 1994 model saw a change in the company’s design language. The 960 Estate (Station wagon) featured rounded edges and a new front fascia with slimmer headlights and a redesigned wrapped-around plastic bumper along with the facelift. On the sides, the carmaker couldn’t do too much about the door panels and windows. They still looked flat.

The 960 station wagon provided more headroom for the rear passengers, even though nobody complained about that in the sedan version. The owner could have expanded the trunk area by folding the rear seats. Thus, the trunk reached up to 75 cu-ft (2123 liters) from a standard 39.3 cu-ft (1112 liters) with all the seats up. Moreover, the loading length was six feet (1.82m).

Under the hood, Volvo installed the inline-six engines from the Sedan version. They were paired to a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic.