It’s safe to say that the rollout of Volvo’s next-generation electric vehicle lineup hasn’t exactly gone to plan. First the little EX30 has been delayed until 2025, and now the Volvo EX90 electric three-row crossover will arrive later than expected, cost more than expected, and be missing several promised features at launch. Unsurprisingly, reservation holders aren’t exactly happy.
Volvo has raised U.S. pricing of the EX90 three-row crossover by $3,300 across the entire lineup, so the new base price is a whopping $81,290 including freight. What’s more, reservation holders are actually getting less for their money because several key features won’t be available at launch. Apple CarPlay, bi-directional charging, forward cross-traffic alert, and LIDAR-based advanced driver assistance systems, for example. This comes on top of months of delays, as this electric crossover was supposed to go on sale in America early in 2024, but now won’t arrive until close to the end of this year.
Back in the years before over-the-air updates, a handful of cars had features unavailable at launch marked with the brand of “delayed availability.” While you couldn’t get these features as an early adopter, you also didn’t have to pay for them. Not getting what you didn’t pay for? Yeah, that sounds like a fair deal.
The difference is that now, automakers are charging for these features and then pushing them out eventually via over-the-air or dealer flash updates. Remember, it took Volvo years to get Apple CarPlay in its Android Automotive infotainment systems, so who knows when all these systems will be active on the Volvo EX90?
As for the other half of the equation, pricing for vehicles announced months, if not years in advance of their actual on-sale dates has proven to have questionable accuracy, and that’s a disturbing trend. The Chevrolet Blazer EV’s purported base model vanished into thin air, the promised $35,000 Tesla Model 3 never materialized, and the $3,300 price hike on the Volvo EX90 has some reservation holders taking to the internet, announcing the cancelation of their orders and dismay of the current situation.
Comparing Volvo to a Kickstarter campaign stings, but is it unreasonable to expect an expensive luxury car to not just be finished, but isn’t actually priced as was initially promised?
Given the depreciation rates of new EVs, waiting a year to see what the used market’s like seems like it could be a smart move. After all, the final driver in just about every purchase is price.
Of course, not everyone seems as calm about canceling reservations, but for good reason. The Volvo EX90 is a premium product, and it’s only natural to feel slighted by the delays, missing features at launch, and now this price hike.
Oh, and from the sounds of it, Volvo may not have initially done a great job of explaining the price hike to customers. Communication’s important, and it seems like Volvo dropped the ball here.
The Volvo EX90 is a great example of why automakers need to slow down announcing new models. While showing off a vehicle super early and announcing an early price and features set creates a splash, waiting in silence until closer to the actual market launch can significantly mitigate disappointment because disappointment sends potential buyers elsewhere. As a Volvo retailer told Automotive News, the circus around the EX90 has killed “about 40 percent” of its EX90 reservations, and that’s a huge figure. Let’s see what the sales numbers say towards the end of this year when the EX90 is now expected to go on sale in America.
(Photo credits: Volvo, Reddit)
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To the guy “pgigov” in the screenshot who wants Volvo to delay the car launch until all the features are ready: I have a hack for that
Wait to buy the car until the features you want are available and let others who are willing to take the “incomplete” car early to do so.
Like I say with video games nowadays do not pre-order anything. Why give money to a company for a product you don’t know will even be worth it? Yes these are just reservations not full price but you are still giving money for an unknown product.
Can automakers please stop trying to copy Tesla so much with their EVs? The big screens are annoying enough. Don’t adopt the overpromising and underdelivering parts, too.
The Elonification of the automotive industry continues, unfortunately.
Maybe it’s delayed because they’re desperately trying to retro-fit a hybrid powertrain?
Nope! Volvo already has this for sale right now (and has been for sale for years) but nice try.
The EX90 and EX30 have absolutely not been on sale for years. Maybe you’re thinking of the XC90 and XC40.
Was more of a joke, since it seems Volvo is struggling with their new ev-only plattform and wondering if they’ve regretting going down that road..
No ‘we’ve reached out to Volvo for a statement’? I’d love to watch them try and defend this shitshow.
Somewhat related fun fact: The new Volvos with “Pilot Assist” integrate the radar into the big black Volvo logo at the front, instead of just lazily shoehorning a black square somewhere in the lower grille like most other automakers.
A topic for Torch perhaps, but I would love to see more manufacturers make an effort to conceal the radar.
Honda has been doing this (hiding sensing apparatus behind the grille H) since at least 2018. I’ve seen it on Clarity and Ridgeline.
Features are what you can rely on the massive horsepower the Chinese ownership could address, and fix, in short order. And, yet, despite Geely’s ownership this seems to contrast heavily with the pace of evolving whole new EV vehicle models in China, let alone just a few new features.
Someone in Sweden has some explaining to do here.
“The Chevrolet Blazer EV’s purported base model vanished into thin air, the promised $35,000 Tesla Model 3 never materialized, and the $3,300 price hike on the Volvo EX90 has some reservation holders taking to the internet, announcing the cancelation of their orders and dismay of the current situation.”
Actually, a software-limited range Standard Range Model 3 was offered by Tesla for $35,000 back in 2020. I know this because everyone was talking about it at the time, and I actually called Tesla, confirmed this, and almost ordered it. It was never on the website, but it was offered and could be easily purchased.
I really don’t get why AA/Carplay is delayed here. It took Volvo forever to get that sorted on on their Android Automotive based system but they did finally manage to push the update out like a year late. Why that software would no longer work here is confusing. It’s one reason I stayed away from a Polestar 2 and the newer Volvos. Was not about to plunk down money on a “future update” with no ETA.
If you’re ready to plunk down 80k+ there are far better options out there that don’t require you to compromise on anything. Volvo is boned on this one
When you test your customer’s patience, but you ain’t no Elon Musk…
Speaking of disastrous rollouts, can’t wait to see how Volkswagen screws up the NA release of the ID.Buzz even further, which somehow seems impossible.
Plot twist: it’s been redesigned as a diesel half-track cherry picker.
I’d buy that!
Advertise as a Harlequin, and they claim they were just joking all along.
Fun fact about the id.Buzz. The vehicle itself is developed in Germany because VW, however their accessories department for some unknown reason is based in their Virginia HQ. 2 different continents using 2 entirely different CAD programs to develop parts for the same exact car. Oh and no travel is allowed by VW so have fun dealing with the time differences while adhering to VW 8-5 work hours! In reality its more like working 5-5 and you have to take the meeting in a VW office because VW. You can’t do it at home.
no shit? Jesus what a clusterfuck.
Oh and the salaries for positions in their Virginia HQ are laughably low across every single department. BMW in their Jersey HQ pays something like 50% more.
You going to try to get a job at BMW or somewhere else instead then?
Nah I’m happy with where I currently am. There were some pretty brutal layoffs around late 2022/23 within the automotive industry so that’s why I was in the position in interview everywhere. However I’ll probably never reveal where I am, at least on this site since I don’t wanna get fired.
Tell us more … *gets popcorn*
That’s about all I learned before VW ghosted me! Ooooh I can say that it was early 2023 and work on iD.Buzz accessories hadn’t started yet so yeah. Typically when a car is in early development phases, there should be some pretty complex but effective communication across all departments INCLUDING accessories. With how the iD.Buzz has been designed and marketed, you’d think they would focus more on it but nope. Leave out one of the biggest ways to make money until after the vehicle has finished development.
Thanks for sharing!
The thing I love so much about automotive is how mind-bogglingly complex the whole thing is. That in the end you end up with a product where thousands of pieces from all of the world just … work together. Except when they don’t! I’ve always loved Volvo (as a consumer– I know very little about the company), so this is all really disappointing.
I don’t follow Jason Cammisa too much, but his documentary about Ferdinand Piech explained a lot about the current mess that VAG is in. I’ve had colleagues just laugh at the new generation of VAG products having insanely idiotic software and hardware choices and forgetting all the principles of what made previous VAG products superior to others.
As an EX30 reservation holder I can attest to Volvo’s communication being abysmal. Looking forward to the price hike on it as well next year!
If a company announces a product at a certain price and you put down a reservation at that price, the company should be legally obligated to honor that price.
I almost can’t believe how badly Volvo is handling the EX30 and EX90 launches. They didn’t have these issues with the XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge (except for their vehicle subscription service that hasn’t done well). I have had several Volvos and my read on fellow Volvo owners is that we all seem to have slightly higher aversion to risks, both in matters of money/price and integrity of physical equipment. Underexplained and otherwise poorly communicated price hikes along with less features – including safety systems such as the LiDAR advanced driver assistance tech and front cross traffic alert – only serve to alienate a big chunk of their customer base.
The incompetence here from Volvo is astonishing enough to be viewed as intentional. Are they bungling the EX30 and EX90 product launches this badly on purpose? This way they can point to massively disappointing sales figures when they bactrack their EV commitments even more than they already have and hope the shareholders and customers don’t notice. Or are they falling victim to the kind of mismanagement that almost ran them out of business twice within the last 30 years?
I think it is the missing features that kills the deal here. At this price point, customers have options. No one “needs” your $80-90k SUV.
So when you boost the price $3k, they probably don’t like it, but hope the vehicle still delivers the goods. Tell them it won’t have some of the “goods”, and it just becomes a problem. Especially features that are available on the competition.
They should learned from their partner brand Polestar on how poorly they are doing on sales before they went all in. Look GM, they had to offer very aggressive lease deals to move units and keep investors happy.
I would rather get a Rivian R1S at that price point. Software is not a good thing coming from Volvo/Polestar, every release at least from Polestar there is a glitch somewhere that wasnt there before. It took over a year to get back seats heated during remote start, they just took it during a software update.
I can’t help but notice that all your examples are EVs.
The Bronco was announced in January 2017 and didn’t go on sale until June 2021. There were still years worth of waitlists.
I think the lesson should be “make a good product and tell the truth about it”, not “don’t announce anything early”.
In fairness, the Bronco launch didn’t exactly go smoothly (how about those early molded-in-color hardtops?), but it did have a solid brand to bank on and sparse competition. Other vehicles often aren’t so lucky. To a lesser extent, we’re seeing a similar boom-and-bust hype cycle from the Lotus Emira, mostly because it just wasn’t close to being ready when it was announced.
I blame Geely.. parent company of Lotus, Volvo and Polestar.
I agree with your last sentence. However, in today’s environment, how much truth can OEMs tell when they are announcing price points and features 2 years before launch? If the cost to manfacture goes up (which, duh, it always does), they’re not going to sacrifice profit margins and keep the price low just because they pink promised us.
Companies’ important promises are not to their customers. They’re to their owners. They would rather jack up the “promised” price point than sacrifice the promised earnings per share.
Yeah I tend to think that announcing pricing well in advance is nearly always a mistake.