Why Does the 2024 Volvo EX90 Look Like This?

Initial reaction to the 2024 Volvo EX90—a seven-passenger electric SUV—centered on two attributes: the Swedish design is immediately recognizable as a Volvo; and designers did not stray far from the look of its current portfolio.

For those who expected a more drastic design for the brand's first dedicated EV, Volvo head of design Robin Page says Volvo wanted to take small steps to ease customers into the EV world. The consensus was that keeping the iconic design would increase the comfort level. "Don't go too crazy now and later on we can be more playful," he says in an interview.

The EX90 has similar dimensions and H-point as the 2023 Volvo XC90, the current three-row SUV that has an internal combustion engine but is also electrified with a mild hybrid as the base model and the XC90 Recharge which is a plug-in hybrid.

The XC90 and EX90 may share specs, but the proportions look different. The EX90, which incorporates the batteries into the body structure, has longer overhangs, a lowered and rounded front, and a lower headliner courtesy of the glass roof. The available 22-inch wheels make the proportions of the electric SUV look different, says Page. The EX90 will also be available with 20-inch and 21-inch wheels, all with inserts or other design features to improve aerodynamics.

The EX90 face has a shield instead of a grille, and a cool evolution of the Thor's Hammer headlights that have one design as daytime running lights and then open up like an eye to reveal the beams for nighttime driving. Freaky cool.

A distinctive feature is the lidar atop the roof. While efforts were made to keep the equipment sleek and aerodynamic, it is not something that could be hidden. Page thinks people will get used to the look of lidar atop vehicles and come to see it as a symbol of a safe car. "We have to embrace this tech that saves lives."

Interior innovations include wood trim across the dash that is illuminated from behind. The interior is leather-free, using a new material created with resins and recycled plastic from pop bottles. There are still Swedish flags on the seats and etched into the metal trim across the dash.

In another nod to conservative tastes, the EX90 still has a physical volume button for the infotainment system, even though research shows consumers are increasingly going straight to touchscreens for controls.

Volvo will be an EV-only automaker by the end of the decade and the EX90 will be the new flagship, taking the mantle from the XC90. Gustafsson is confident that the EX90 will be the highest volume battery-electric BEV from Volvo in North America.

Volvo is building preproduction EX90s at the plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina, which makes the XC90 as well. EX90 production will ramp up ahead of full production in late 2023 for sale in North America as well as export to Europe. The plant will continue to make the XC90 on one assembly line for the foreseeable future. The second line, which has the capacity to make 150,000 vehicles a year, will keep building the Volvo S60 sedan, while adding the EX90 and the two-row 2024 Polestar 3 electric SUV.