Volvo’s electric future revealed: New sedan, city SUV coming to Australia

EXCLUSIVE

The rapid and radical transformation of Volvo into an electric-only car company is about to begin with a rush of new models.

After launching its first electric vehicle (EV) in Australia last year – the XC40 Recharge Pure Electric – Volvo is planning four new electric models for local showrooms by 2025, across sedan and SUV categories.

The plan starts in Australia with the launch of the compact C40 small SUV next month – a 'coupe-styled' version of the XC40 – with Volvo's new seven-seater SUV flagship, the EX90, to be unveiled on November 9 ahead of production in 2023, and local sales in 2024.

There will also be a compact SUV due next year, followed by a new large four-door sedan in 2024.

“Every brand-new model that we make from now on is pure electric only. There is no going back for us,” the managing director of Volvo Car Australia, Stephen Connor revealed to Drive.

Confirming the four fully-electric newcomers by the end of 2024, he indicated the local division's plan is beat Volvo's global target of phasing out petrol vehicles before 2030.

But he did not set a firm date of when combustion-engined Volvo cars will leave showrooms in Australia.

Mr Connor said he believed all future electric SUVs in the Volvo family would follow the 'EX' naming pattern – running against earlier indications Volvo would uses names and not numbers for future electric cars – to indicate the change from the previous XC series of petrol-engined SUVs.

The electric C40 is the only new-generation Volvo electric car coming to Australia in 2022, with the one-size-smaller XC30 SUV – now likely to be called EX30 – confirmed by Mr Connor for next year.

The only change to the original roll-out is a delay for the electric EX90 from 2023 until 2024, although production will begin next year. Drive understands this may replace the petrol XC90 entirely in Australia, even though it's rumoured to live on overseas.

“We were due to launch the EX90 and XC30 [or EX30] side-by-side, but now we will launch the XC30 next year,” said Mr Connor.

He also revealed Volvo's plan for a new sedan – which Drive expects to have similar dimensions to the BMW 5 Series-sized Volvo S90, last sold in Australia in 2019 – as part of the one-car-per-year electric roll-out.

“We should have another one coming through around the same time as the EX90 in 2024,” he said.

“It's a sedan. It will be a brand-new model in that segment,” Connor continued.

No official photos of the three new cars have been released, though patent images of the EX90 have emerged – and last year's Concept Recharge show car gives a glimpse of what to expect from the EX30 and future sedan.

Based on its size, the new sedan may wear the ES90 name – and would rival the likes of the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S, as well as the Polestar 5 from Volvo's electric spin-off brand Polestar, which the new Volvo may share a platform with.

Volvo has trademarked the ES40, ES60 and ES90 names for sedans – as well as EX30, EX40, EX60 and EX90 for SUVs, EC40 for a 'coupe SUV', EV40, EV60 and EV90 for wagons, plus EXC40, EXC60 and EXC90.

Other models expected to be in development include the electric successor to the popular XC60 medium SUV, due in 2024. It may be based on a dedicated platform, and could wear the EX60 badge, in line with the flagship EX90.

Automotive News in the US reports Volvo is working on two electric "wagon-like activity vehicles", an a new electric SUV between the XC60 and XC90 (codenamed V546).

Interestingly, it also claims "redesigned" S90 and XC90 models with plug-in hybrid power are in development – though it's unclear if these really are brand-new models, or heavily-revised versions of existing vehicles.

Artist illustrations created by Theophilus Chin (@theottle).