Audi Q2 exterior dimensions (Photo: manufacturer's website)
There were years when you said Volvo, and the first thing you saw was a big, slow rectangular box, sometimes in a sedan configuration, ideally in a station wagon, but it was always very square and usually very slow. Well, forget everything, because the Volvo EX30 you see here is anything but a square box and really not slow, how not slow? It's actually the fastest accelerating Volvo ever, how fast? 3.6 seconds per 100 km/h fast.
But wait, hold his 428 horses, who is the Volvo EX30 anyway and what makes it so important to Volvo?
Volvo, once a Swedish manufacturer and now a Chinese-owned Swedish manufacturer, belongs to the giant Geely conglomerate, and when you belong to a huge conglomerate, you have to share as many platforms as possible and when you share as many platforms as possible for as many models as possible, it also gives Volvo access to models smaller than the XC40 and C40 that it has had in supply until now.
No buttons No controls - Tesla Style (Photo: manufacturer's website)
And that's important, because for more than two decades automakers have been looking to catch their customers when they're still young and pave them to life with the brand they already know. And that's the position the EX30 needs to occupy for Volvo. The fact that the world is creeping into some inflation-ridden recession certainly wouldn't hurt any manufacturer to have one in their portfolio.
This explanation is meant to prepare us for its dimensions story, Volvo doesn't publish too many technical details regarding dimensions and that's usually not a good sign, but in general it's about 2.3 meters from end to end, so it's a relatively small vehicle, more or less the size of the Audi Q2, the Lexus LBX that was just presented and also the future Mini Iceman. It should be lightweight, with a lot of use of aluminum that Volvo emphasises is a quarter of recycled, as well as 17% of its steel and plastic.
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Don't expect an unusual margin (Photo: manufacturer's website)
Once again, Volvo is stingy with details about the drive, and in any case, uncharacteristically, it doesn't gather the data but sprinkles clues throughout the press release. What can be gleaned from there is that the vehicle will come in two drive configurations, single-engine and rear-wheel drive in a standard range or extended range version and a dual-engine version with all-wheel drive. They also differ in the LFP battery type for the rear-wheel drive version with the regular range and NMC for the long-range version and the all-wheel drive version. What else? How convenient, the only range mentioned is that of the version with the single motor and advanced battery and stands at 480 km and the only acceleration figure declared is that of the end version and stands at 3.6 seconds. There is also a slight difference in their fast charging rate, the single-motor version will be able to get 134 kW while the one with the two motors 135 kW - no difference in time - both will go from 10 to 80% in about 25 minutes.
On the way: a cross-country combat version next year (Photo: manufacturer's website)
In its cabin, Volvo makes a Tesla and cleans the entire cockpit and console from buttons, dials or controls, all centered on one vertical screen, which, like all new Volvo cars, runs Google's operating system that allows navigation while calculating battery percentage on arrival (did we already say Volvo does Tesla?), access to apps and voice assistance at a very high level from our past experience. You can also see that they put the window switches in the centre console and moved the gear selector to the lever next to the steering wheel. By the way, all these things have one goal - to save money and save weight. Concentrating functions on the screen means fewer electrical wires, resistors, connectors, etc., and the same goes for the buttons on the center console. The press release also lacks an organized list of the model's safety systems, except for a mention of a system that warns and prevents a door from opening when identifying a two-wheeled rider or a person running alongside the vehicle.
The most unVolvo we've seen (Photo: manufacturer's website)
The EX30 begins marketing in Europe in the coming months, and it will arrive this year, at least according to Meir, the importer. Since it is the smallest in the range of models and is below the XC40, whose price in the electric version starts at NIS 280,225, it is estimated that a price in the NIS 250,2024-35,<> segment is a reasonable figure for the entry-level version. But that's as long as the negotiations with the manufacturer go well, and of course they come this year, before the next tax increase in <> to <>%.
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- Volvo
- Electric vehicle
- Crossover
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