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NEW YORK – Volvo revealed the latest vehicle in its revamped product lineup on Monday, the all-electric EX60 SUV.
While the EX60 will be built in Europe, be subject to tariffs, and compete in a tight EV market here in the US, Volvo is, not surprisingly, looking to expand production in the US.
In addition to bringing production of its high-volume XC60 gas-powered SUV to its South Carolina plant, the company will also build another brand-new vehicle.
“We are right now developing a car, with really the US market in sight, which should really be a big seller here,” said Volvo Cars CEO Håkan Samuelsson at a press event in New York for the EX60 public debut. “So it’s a somewhat bigger car, probably easier to understand, and it’s a family-oriented bigger car, which also needs to be in a multi-fuel execution,” he added, claiming it would be difficult to do a pure EV, meaning it will most likely be a hybrid of some sort.
Part of the appeal of US manufacturing is, of course, that Volvo wouldn’t be paying a tariff on the vehicles made in the US, but there’s also another bonus — export.
“Now it’s 15% coming into the country, but don’t forget now it’s 0% exporting from the US into Europe … That’s something good for the Charleston [South Carolina] factory,” he said.
Volvo’s current US product portfolio consists of large SUVs, midsize and compact SUVs, and one wagon s going aw’s going away), the V60 Cross Country. All of its gas-powered cars are mild or plug-in hybrids, with EVs mixed in (using the “EX” prefix).
The introduction of a brand-new EV in a market where the federal tax credit has expired, as well as regulatory emissions credits that boosted automaker profits, is normally a tough sell. But Volvo is optimistic about the EX60, given that its midsize SUV body style is the most popular in America, and Samuellson says it’s an overall better product than the gas version.
But the numbers don’t lie.
“We definitely see a decrease is EV demand after 45W credit (federal EV tax credit) going away, but suddenly now we start to see the EV coming back, the interest after the oil price rise is becoming very, very clear,” Volvo Cars Americas President Luis Rezende said, claiming Volvo was seeing improving metrics in May versus April for EVs and PHEVs (plug-in hybrid EVs) versus its regular mild-hybrid cars.
Website traffic for its EVs and PHEVs is also rising, Rezende said, indicating heightened consumer interest in the US.
With affordability front and center, even for premium vehicles like the EX60, Rezende said pricing is key for the US market.
