The China-made EX30 arrives in the U.S. next summer and starts at $36,145, including shipping. It rides on the Sustainable Experience Architecture platform, which underpins vehicles from other Geely group brands.
Volvo expects the EX30 to help lift the brand’s operating profit margin to 8 to 10 percent by mid-decade from about 6 percent currently.
“We’ll make better margins on this car than we do on … the XC40 BEV and the C40,” Volvo’s Chief Commercial Officer Björn Annwall said at the EX30 launch event in Milan last week. “We’re not doing this just for fun.”
The company said its two EVs delivered 7 percent profitability in the first quarter.
“Our BEV profitability is currently hampering our margins,” said Fredrik Hansson, Volvo head of global controlling.
Volvo’s ability to squeeze any profit out of a new model — let alone a double-digit percentage — raises industry eyebrows.
“When it comes to EVs, the answer’s always ‘we’re not making a dime,’ ” Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ director of insights, told Automotive News. “It’s shocking for Volvo to be profitable [on the EX30] when they stamp the first one.”
