Tasty junior Swede

DIMINUTIVE DIMENSIONS OF VOLVO'S NEXT ELECTRIC SUV CLOAK CLEVER DESIGN ... AND BIG AMBITIONS

- STEPHEN DOBIE

VOLVO'S EX30 is one of the company's smallest-ever cars - yet, in its own words, one of its biggest opportunities.

The company is aiming for half its global sales volumes to be EVs by 2025. Just one year later, its entire Australian offering will take power purely from a plug. The EX30 will be a major player in both stories.

At 4.2m long, it's not much bigger than a Nissan Juke, while pricing is set to be extremely competitive in the electric SUV sector - its entry point here in Australia is below $60,000. Volvo says prices sit as close to an internal combustion equivalent as possible.

Its size and pricing may be as slim as possible, but the EX30's performance is anything but.

All three launch models for Australia feature a 69kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery, with the range-topping Performance Ultra adopting an extra electric motor for all-wheel drive where other variants are rear-wheel drive.

Volvo Australia, at least for now, has elected not to introduce a 51kWh EX30 Standard Range that uses a more cost-effective lithium-ion phosphate (LFP) battery but has the shortest driving range at 344km. If such a model were to be offered here, it could conceivably reduce the price of entry to the low-$50,000 range.