Volvo EX30 orders beat best-selling electric cars of 2023

Volvo has already received more orders for its EX30 compact SUV in South Africa than the best-selling electric vehicle (EV) in the country for the entire 2023.

The EX30 was officially launched in South Africa on Thursday, 22 February 2024.

With a starting price of R775,900, the entry-level option is the most affordable Volvo EV ever and the third most affordable fully-electric car in South Africa.

Volvo Cars South Africa managing director Greg Maruszewski told MyBroadband that around half of South Africa’s initial allocation of 500 cars was reserved by the time of the launch.

To put the roughly 250 orders into perspective, the top-selling EV in South Africa — the Volvo XC40 Recharge, recently renamed to the EX40 — recorded 150 sales in 2023.

Even when accounting for the fact that the EX30 has been available on pre-order from its global reveal in June 2023, the rate of orders is far higher than the EX40’s.

Volvo EX30 models at South African launch event in Johannesburg on Thursday, 22 February 2024

Maruszewski said Volvo had reached out to try and secure more production for South Africa for 2024 and had already secured some additional slots.

“The reaction to the newly launched EX30 has been phenomenal, so we are excited to see the reaction of customers over the coming weeks and months,” he said.

Maruszewski also shared further details on what EX30 configurations were the most popular from the confirmed orders.

“Only about 13% of total customer orders so far are for the Single Motor Core version, with 60% being for the Twin Motor Performance variant, and the rest the Single Motor Extended Range,” Maruszewski said.

The Twin Motor Performance is Volvo’s fastest-accelerating production car yet, with an output of 315kW and 543Nm torque enabling it to go from 0-100km/h in 3.6 seconds.

While priced starting from a more expensive R935,900, it is nonetheless very good value for money when comparing its performance to petrol rivals around the same price.

Volvo EX30 interior

MyBroadband asked Volvo whether it was not concerned that the EX30’s starting price being over R300,000 cheaper than the EX40 would cannibalise the latter’s sales.

The EX40 is about 21cm longer, 3cm wider, and 9cm higher than the EX30, so their sizes are reasonably comparable.

Young families and couples who previously would have opted for the EX40 if they were looking for one of the more affordable EV SUVs in the country might now turn their attention to its younger sibling.

However, Maruszewski maintained that the two models were different, and Volvo reckoned that they would appeal to different groups.

“We have had some customers waiting to see the EX30 before they commit, but I think likewise, we will have customers who will opt for the EX40 instead,” he stated.

“We are confident that the total volume of EX30 and EX40 combined will increase significantly.”

Volvo XC40 Recharge Twin (renamed to EX40)

Volvo is bringing another EV to South Africa this year — the much larger 7-seater EX90 SUV.

Maruszewski said the company was expecting the first batch of this model to arrive in the last quarter of 2024.

“These will be dealer demo cars and some press cars,” he said. “Customer cars are expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2025.”

Another recent EV unveiled by Volvo is the EM90, which is a premium multi-purpose vehicle, a segment in which Volvo historically had great success, particularly in the US.

Maruszewski said although the EM90 wasonly planned for the Chinese market at this time, there were ongoing discussions if it should be released in other markets.

“If it becomes available, we will definitely be interested as we see a small but still interesting segment where this type of luxury MPV could compete in quite successfully,” Maruszewski stated.

Volvo EX90 7-seater SUV. Expected to launch in South Africa in Q1 2025.

The Volvo EM90 MPV is currently only earmarked for the Chinese market.