Volvo Ex90 News

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Volvo's backflip on its plan to only sell electric cars in Australia by 2026 won’t be accompanied by a new target date.Despite the carmaker believing it’s the right thing to do, it says Aussie buyers aren’t ready to go EV only.Speaking to CarsGuide at a brand event, Volvo Australia Managing Director Stephen Connor explained the brand’s decision to step back from its 2026 commitment.“We’re still committed to a fully electric strategy,” he said. “What we identified in this journey is that it can’t be a switch on and switch off kind of view.“Why? Because infrastructure isn’t ready for it, consumers are also not ready for it.“What does the consumer want as opposed to what we want? We’re still committed to being climate neutral by 2040, so those milestones are still there but it may take us a little longer to be fully electrified."Connor detailed how Volvo will eventually reach its goal in Australia.“Every new model that we bring out is fully electric from now onwards. But that doesn’t stop us from refreshing our current line-up, because that’s what the consumer is telling us they really need.“I’d love to tell you today we’ll be there by 2027 or 2028, but it’s not a race, and we can get there gradually and when it suits consumers.“We could have forced it through, no doubt. We’ve got the product to do it, but is it necessarily the right thing for the brand today? Probably not.“It’s the right thing to do, but the world, I think, has shifted so much in the last three-to-four years.”Volvo wants to continue to record solid sales numbers of its popular combustion cars, which it now intends to keep updating. According to Connor, the XC40, XC60, and XC90 SUVs are “big volume cars” that are “selling really well in the marketplace".He confirmed the mid-size EX60, arriving in 2026, will mark Volvo's next step on its electrification journey, adding that the brand may re-assess its progress on electrification at that point as its range of core vehicles will have electric versions.“As soon as that arrives we can sit back and go ‘Okay, what’s the product cycle?’ Then we can redefine whether it’s 2028, 2029, or 2030,” he explained.How does Volvo know its consumers aren’t ready? Connor highlighted the growth in plug-in hybrid sales, as well as feedback at a corporate and dealer level that “not everyone wants to go straight from a petrol or mild hybrid to a fully electric car".“Who would have thought we’d be here talking about plug-in hybrids as the next big thing?“We could have been egotistical and pushed it through, but that’s not Volvo and it’s not who we are.”He said the growth of PHEVs in particular came as a bit of a surprise, given the brand has offered them for some time. However, it seems the shift to longer electric driving range has been a turning point for buyers.“What’s actually changed as part of that surprise is that when we first launched PHEVs the range was probably like 35 to 40km in the real world, now the average range of most PHEVs is more like 70 and then the next generation coming through would be up to 100 to 150km."So what’s really changed is the technology evolving so quickly. All of a sudden, it really makes sense.”There is also an element of what Volvo’s Gothenburg, Sweden head office makes available to the Australian division, which weighs into the equation.“When we made that original announcement, the weren’t going to be made available.” he said.“But because we’re nimble and agile, head office decided to re-invest back into the two staple cars that we’d loved and known, so that also gave us the ability to redefine what we want to do. “That decision though is made at a local level. If we don’t want XC90, we don’t have to take it, but because they refreshed it, we went ‘Yeah, it’s a great car, why wouldn’t we take it.’”In addition, he added HQ offering updated versions of the brand’s core combustion range came at the perfect time, as the scale-up of the EX90 - which the brand had hoped would be a volume seller immediately - was impacted globally by software-related delays and the announcement of an upgraded 800-volt version which will allow faster charging than the current 400-volt version.Volvo sales are down 21 per cent year-on-year in Australia to the end of September, although the company has managed a significant percentage of its yearly volume in just the last month as deliveries start of updated and new models.Next for the brand will be the arrival of the ES90 electric sedan, with the EX60 mid-sizer arriving in 2026.

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Volvo warns that "something has got to give" in Australia's new-car market, with too many brands now fighting for too few sales for all to survive.That's the word from Volvo Car Australia Managing Director Stephen Connor, with the senior executive also detailing how his brand will survive the new-marque onslaught."We've got 70-plus OEMs here, and we've probably got another 20 arriving on our shores in the next short period of time. It is crazy," he said."The market is, they reckon, 1.2 million this year. I personally think it's about one million, but let's go with the experts, and they're saying it's 1.2."So 1.2m (sales) with probably 90 OEMs – something has got to give."I think the people who will struggle are the people who are going to be fighting in that volume segment. And I think, good on the new entrants coming in. They're going to bring a new dynamic."Asked whether all 90 brands would still be in Australia in five years time, the executive replied "I don't think so"."I think there will be some consolidation, and this is only my personal view," he said, "I think some brands who have come in, the new ones, have gone, (saying) this is too hard and too difficult."His thoughts echo those of Kia, Toyota and other major players, all of whom suggest the new-car makeup in Australia is going to change, though Volvo is in a unique position, given several of the new players – Polestar, Geely, Zeekr and the soon-to-arrive Lynk & Co – are all part of its extended family .But Volvo says realistic expectations and a business model not contingent on extreme volume will ensure the marque survives in Australia."We're looking for marginal growth this year, which is okay. We've gathered production based on marginal growth," Mr Connor says."I think it's important for us to grow as a brand. But we don't need to grow by 20 per cent. Five per cent, two per cent – that's good enough for us as we go forward. Our production this year is based off about 9,500 units. And we're comfortable to achieve that."A changing product line-up will fuel that marginal increase, Mr Connor says, with some well-known models on the way out, replaced by vehicles the brand hopes will capture more sales."So S60 and V60, we say goodbye this year to those models. They were only about 300 cars a piece. There's a lot of time and energy spent just to sell 300 cars, and as you know, sedans are struggling in this marketplace," he says."We've got the EX90, which will be about 300 cars this year. We've got XC90, the new one. So that will be about 1100 units roughly. We'll get some extra growth from EX30 Cross Country. We have refreshed XC60, a big segment for us. It's normally about 3000 cars. Then later on this year we've got the ES90 as well, which will be small volumes again."But you see, we've consolidated the line-up. So that's where our growth will come from. Refreshed XC90, refreshed XC60. We've got obviously XC40, which is still a great seller for us as well, and then you've got EX30."

Volvo has revealed pricing for its fully-electric EX90 large SUV.