The Volvo EX30 will be launched later this month, and it looks like Volvo Car Malaysia (VCM) is embarking on some form of guerrilla marketing with this camouflaged car, which is registered. Over the weekend, I chanced on this car by the lake of the Subang Ria Park, which was booked out for a smartphone launch attended by a younger demographic.
Embedded within the EX30’s camo skin are the phrases ‘Big on Safety’ and ‘Big on Tech’, as well as a call to action to ‘be the first to drive’ the car at KL Base, September 26-29. That’s the new name for the historic Sungai Besi airfield, which VCM also used for the Volvo Safety Driving Experience earlier this year. The dates must be for the customer launch event over the weekend after the official launch on September 25.
Anyway, registration of interest is already open, and several units of the EV were spotted on a trailer heading to Port Klang last month. This suggests that CKD local assembly at Volvo’s Shah Alam plant has already started, and exports have begun.
The Volvo EX30 is one of the more interesting EVs around, perhaps because it’s so different. Unique in design (so cool), unique in size (it’s tiny, and not just for a Volvo), unique in UI (perhaps you’ve heard about the zero-buttons, no meter/HUD approach) and – as Hafriz Shah found out in Sweden – unique to drive as well. The latter was a surprise to our man, who has driven practically every EV on sale in Malaysia.
The EX30 is Volvo’s smallest car (ever?). Built on the Geely’s Scalable Electric Architecture (SEA) platform that also underpins the smart #1, smart #3 and upcoming Zeekr X, the dedicated EV is just 4,223 mm long, 1,837 mm wide and just 1,555 mm tall, which is 202 mm, 26 mm and 97 mm less than the XC40, respectively. Its 2,650 mm wheelbase is 52 mm shorter than the smallest XC model. The EX30 is also much smaller than its smart cousins.
The EX30 is already available in Thailand and Indonesia. In the Land of Smiles, three variants are being offered. All feature a 69 kWh nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery pack with max charging rates of 11 kW AC and 153 kW DC.
The Core Single Motor Extended Range and Ultra Single Motor Extended Range have a rear-mounted motor rated at 272 PS (200 kW) and 343 Nm, with a WLTP range of 480 km. The Ultra Twin Motor Performance range-topper adds on a front motor to make it 428 PS (315 kW), 543 Nm and 460 km of WLTP range.
Over in Indonesia, there’s no AWD model but RWD buyers get two battery packs to choose from. The base Plus has a 51 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) unit for 344 km range, while the top-spec Ultra Extended Range gets a 69 kWh NMC battery for 480 km range.
We’ll soon know the variants Malaysia will get. For now, check out our video review below and tell us what you think of the Volvo EX30. At present, the BYD Seal and Tesla Model 3 are the EVs that are considered desirable, and there’s also the just-launched MINI Cooper SE and Countryman SE in the lifestyle space.
Price a very important factor for EVs, which growing supply is battling for demand that’s perhaps not expanding as fast. The EX30 is a very small car, and it has to undercut Volvo’s own XC40 Recharge Pure Electric, which retails for RM280k. Indonesian prices start from an equivalent of RM248k, and ours should be lower. The above-mentioned all-new U25 Countryman – which is much larger by the way – goes for RM266,288 with the full warranty package. So, RM200k to RM240k perhaps? We’ll know soon enough.
GALLERY: Volvo EX30 camo teaser
GALLERY: Volvo EX30 Ultra Extended Range at GIIAS 2024
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Pricing this correctly will either make it or break it with this model. It’s targeting the younger gen with it’s small size, a gen which might not have 200k to spare. Look at the sales of it’s sister the Smart #1.