While most automakers are reporting robust sales in 2012 (so far, anyway), Volvo is longing for the good old days of 2011. In September, Volvo sold just 4,977 vehicles in the United States, a 1.3-percent decline from last September’s sales.

Year-to-date, Volvo’s sales are down one percent compared to the same period last year, and it only takes a look at the current product mix to see why. Its flagship sedan, the S80, was last redesigned in 2006 (although it was updated in 2010), while the best-selling S60 sedan isn’t up to performance or luxury standards set by competitors.

The XC90, which tops Volvo’s range of crossovers (or ruggedized wagons, depending upon your perspective) is still in its first generation, with a design that dates back to 2002. In new car years, similar to dog years, that’s ancient.

Automotive New Europe (subscription required) is reporting that relief, in the form of new products, is on the horizon. First up are refreshed versions of the S80 and S60 sedans, due in late 2013 or early 2014. These will be followed by an entirely new XC90 that will debut Volvo’s scalable platform architecture (SPA).

Neither the S80 nor the S60 coming next year will be entirely new; instead, both are getting mid-cycle (or late-cycle) updates designed to boost sales. All-new versions of the Volvo sedans should arrive in late 2014, following the launch of the redesigned XC90.

Globally, Volvo wants to sell 800,000 cars annually by 2020, and the United States market is “strategically the most important,” according to Volvo’s head of global sales and marketing, Doug Speck.

While Speck wouldn’t give a forecast number for U.S. sales in 2020, he did say that the brand was “a little ahead” of its goal of 70,000 unit sales in the U.S. this year. Assuming, that is, that sales don’t drop further in the last quarter of the year.