The mildly off-road focused Volvo EX30 Cross Country is expected to take around a third of the overall model’s sales when it arrives in showrooms in the coming weeks.
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The EX30 small electric SUV came to Australia in early 2024, with three variants on offer, two single-motor versions and a top-of-the-range dual-motor.
The Cross Country soft-roader will sit in the middle of the range, although its specification is based on the twin-motor model.
Volvo believes it will be a popular variant, with around 600 sold annually, especially among older people downsizing but still needing the capability to undertake mild off-roading tasks.
“Australians love the opportunity or love the ability to go off-road,” Stephen Connor, Managing Director of Volvo Australia, told Drive.
“But do they generally go off-road? I think most Australians driving it will do so because it's rugged, it looks great, it has the ground clearance in case they need it, and it's got a twin motor, so it ticks all the boxes and can go off-road.
“We’re not talking about it going up a mountain range, this is going on gravel roads and driveways, or being used on your property if you've got a creek or something that you need to cross, etc. The vehicle is quite capable of it.”
Compared to the regular EX30, the Cross Country features a 19mm raised ride height, larger-diameter tyres, and the option of an 18-inch wheel and all-terrain tyre package.
Its suspension has also been retuned to match the increased ride height, providing a softer ride to accommodate journeys over rougher terrain.
There are also several styling differences, including front and rear skid plates, wheel arch extensions, and a dark finish for the front end panel and tailgate applique.
The front also features a stylised topographical map of the Kebnekaise mountain range in Arctic Sweden, with longitude and latitude coordinates that point to the Toppstugan emergency accommodation cabin – Sweden’s highest building.
Eventually, according to the Swedish brand, it will replace the dual-motor variant in the range with just the Cross Country and Single-Motor offered, such is its faith that it will be “a great seller”.
Once all current stock of the twin-motor is sold, the Cross Country will be the flagship, Volvo says.
“We’ve shifted our current all-wheel drive offering to the Cross Country, so now that's our halo car, and then we've got the single – we won't have three cars in that range,” Michael Rowland, Product Manager for Volvo Australia, told media, including Drive.
“When we launched, we thought the Twin [Motor] would be the biggest seller versus the [Single]. We thought the customer profile would be young. What we're actually seeing is that it's later in life for people who are downsizing.
“It's more fifties to eighties who are buying the car, and they're less worried about performance, they're more worried about EV charging, and want to pay less. So we've switched our strategy.”
The Volvo EX30 Cross Country is the first EV and SUV to wear the Cross Country nameplate, which was first introduced in the 1990s for Volvo sedans and wagons.
It costs $69,990, $1300 less than the Twin Motor Performance Ultra, but $3700 more than the Single Motor Extended Ultra.
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A born-and-bred newshound, Kathryn has worked her way up through the ranks reporting for, and later editing, two renowned UK regional newspapers and websites, before moving on to join the digital newsdesk of one of the world’s most popular newspapers – The Sun. More recently, she’s done a short stint in PR in the not-for-profit sector, and led the news team at Wheels Media.
