Volvo EX30 Electric SUV Announced: What We Know

Today, Volvo announced the latest addition to its family of all-electric vehicles, a small SUV called the EX30. Full information will be made available on June 7, but for now, the automaker has provided a 30-second teaser video to dissect. Since the video goes to great lengths to emphasize the compactness of the new EV, it'll surely be smaller than Volvo's three-row behemoth SUV, the upcoming EX90. What's less clear is how the EX30 will compare to Volvo's more moderately sized XC40 Recharge, but the video shows the EX30 being picked up by a person's hand, so it must be pretty small — and, of course, 30 is a smaller number than 40.

With that settled, we can move on to the styling, which has the au courant dose of LED lighting. Besides the traditional Volvo vertical taillights adapted to LED, the EX30 has what appears to be a full-width light bar stretching across the front bumper. In general, the exterior seems quite chiseled and angular.

Volvo

The EX30 will be the second vehicle to utilize the EX naming convention, joining the aforementioned EX90. The brand's other electric vehicles, the XC40 Recharge SUV and the C40 Recharge crossover, are both based on the five-year-old CMA platform that was originally intended for internal combustion engines rather than a completely fresh EV-centric design. Industry insiders suspect that the EX30 could ride on a modular EV platform designed by Volvo's parent company Geely. The platform is already used for a compact electric SUV called the Smart #1 (not available in America) that generates 268 horsepower from a single electric motor.

Regardless of its underpinnings, the EX30 is clearly targeted toward younger, adventurous buyers, a demographic that has largely evaded the Swedish automaker thus far. In a conversation with TopGear, Volvo CEO Jim Rowan stated, "Take a smaller SUV, which is more for city driving, maybe for first-time buyers. Gen Z, 18- [and] 19-year-olds — is our next market. We don't talk to Gen Z right now, the brand has never really spoken to that younger demographic. We are absolutely heading in that direction."

This mentality makes particular sense when you consider Volvo's available subscription model, which is likened to the way that certain smartphones are sold. The subscription includes the use of the vehicle, insurance, and maintenance bundled into a single monthly payment. Better still, the minimum commitment period is only five months. Unfortunately, the subscription service, called "Care by Volvo," is currently only available at brick-and-mortar dealerships and not online, which could be perceived as a serious negative to many prospective customers.

However you choose to acquire your EX30, the U.S. order banks will open on June 7, the same date as the full unveiling. Additional details are expected in the interim, so stay tuned.