As has been documented on these pages before, the current obsession with SUVs is not one shared here in TLCB Towers. However there is an exception. Volvo…

Sold by Ford during their purge in 2010 to stave off bankruptcy, Volvo are now under the ownership of Geely, and – much like Jaguar and Land Rover sold to the Indians by Ford two years previously – the Chinese have done a far better job of managing Volvo than Ford ever did.

By providing cash and economies of scale, but by letting Volvo be Volvo, the cars coming out of Gothenburg are a world apart from the dull badge-engineered knock-offs built under Ford’s stewardship.

The latest XC90 encapsulates this mantra; with superbly Swedish design, engines no larger than 2 litres, using turbocharging, supercharging, and hybrid electric to boost performance, and self-driving technology, Volvo’s flagship SUV is very probably the flagship SUV. Not bad for a company best known for estate cars.

This beautiful recreation of the latest XC90 ‘Excellence’ edition comes from previous bloggee dgustafsson1317, and he’s built the big Volvo brilliantly. A superbly detailed exterior (including bespoke 3D-printed wheels to replicate those on the real car) continues inside with a stunningly accurate interior, made all the more impressive by the need to squeeze in a raft of Power Functions electronic wizardry.

Five motors power the all-wheel-drive system, steering, and the electrically opening tailgate, all of which are operable remotely via a Bluetooth device thanks to a third-party SBrick. The build also features all-wheel suspension, neat brick-built windows, and some excellent custom badges too.

There’s much more of the model to see at dgustafsson’s enormous Volvo XC90 Excellence album on Flickr – click the link above for over fifty stunning images.