Volvo presently offers two EVs in India: the XC40 Recharge and the C40 Recharge, and in a recent media interview, Jyoti Malhotra, MD, Volvo Cars India, announced that the business will treble its portfolio by 2025 with the introduction of the EX30 and EX90 born electric SUVs. Malhotra even went on to state that the corporation is currently looking into local manufacture of both electric vehicles.
Volvo India sold 690 electric vehicles in 2023, accounting for 28 percent of the company’s total sales. This included 519 XC40 Recharges and 180 C40 Recharges, with the former on sale for a full year and the latter accessible only in the fourth quarter. Volvo anticipates EV sales to increase to 33% of overall sales by 2024.
“2023 was a good year from a volume perspective. We had a growth of 31 percent, which is good, with Asia Pacific being one of the fastest growing areas, albeit on a low base. The more heartening thing was the adoption has been strong for EVs,” said Malhotra.
As per Volvo, the EV sales as a portion of the total in luxury segments has been 7 percent higher than in mass-market segments, and it’s expected to grow a further 8-10 percent in 2024. Malhotra also expects 50 percent of luxury car sales in India to comprise of EVs by 2030.
“This year it should be one-third penetration, with more car lines coming in 2025, the penetration will further increase,” Malhotra said. Volvo itself has already committed to being a full-electric brand by 2030.
The company has adopted a direct-to-customer model for sale of its electric cars, and Malhotra says, “So far, the indications are good. In another few years, we may add ICE as well.”
At present, Volvo produces cars out of China, Sweden and the US. The company is looking at more places where it can produce cars, and India happens to be under consideration for manufacturing, not just for domestic sales, but even exports. The company, however, has not yet arrived at a concrete decision on this. Currently, all Volvo cars and SUVs sold here are locally assembled, although the company is building the petrol-powered XC40 only by order.
As for the upcoming EV SUVs, the EX90 was unveiled in 2022 as the brand’s flagship EV and is a seven-seater, effectively being an electric equivalent to the existing XC90. It was the first model to be underpinned by the brand’s EV SPA2 architecture, and is closely related to the Polestar 3. In top-spec guise, the EX90 gets a 111kWh battery for a range of 600km on the WLTP cycle; its electric motor produces up to 517hp of power. You can read more about it here.
Meanwhile, the EX30 is positioned as the brand’s entry-level electric SUV, and is based on parent firm Geely’s SEA platform, which is also shared with the Jeep Avenger EV. It, however, has a clear family resemblance to the flagship EX90 SUV. In its top-spec Twin Motor Performance model, the EX30 uses a 69kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery and has 427hp of power. You can read more about it here.