Troubles for the 2024 Volvo EX90 EV continue to pile up as the Swedish luxury car company is forced to raise prices due to “high material costs.” Dealerships are not happy and are now beginning to voice their frustrations.
Volvo was confident that the upcoming 2024 EX90 SUV was going to be a big value play in its segment with the model starting at $76,695. This price was supposed to pair well with its advanced EV technology and sleek exterior styling to create a potent contender in the luxury EV SUV segment.
However, the company has now been forced to face the reality of the changing global economy and rising material costs have forced the company to abandon this plan and raise the price by $3,300 to $79,995 in a huge blow that could dent the model’s success in certain markets including the U.S.
Materials put the squeeze on EX90
Volvo’s price increase came with little fanfare, but it surprised many dealerships who claim that the $3,300 bump to a revised total of $79,995 will hurt sales and that they also didn’t receive official notice from Volvo themselves with this surprise announcement potentially forcing some dealerships to quickly alter their marketing and sales strategies for the model as it prepares to finally enter the marketplace after a brief delay due to lingering electronic issues.
Volvo spokesperson Sophia Durr said that the price increase was due to “higher material costs” and even took a swipe at dealerships by saying that the price increase was communicated to them and pre-order clients on June 26th. Durr also said that the company has received strong demand for the EX90 and that the price increase will not cause this demand to decrease.
Dealerships disagree
Volvo is moving ahead with the launch of the flagship EX90. It’s being produced at the automaker’s plant in South Carolina.
Durr’s words were not well received by dealerships and many of them openly disagreed with her statement. Some of them said that the price increase comes as demand for electric vehicles as a whole is beginning to slow down and it would represent an unwelcome one-two punch for dealerships with potential EX90 buyers bailing on the model to move elsewhere which would cost them precious sales.
This latest challenge follows other unwelcome news with Volvo recently confirming that the model will arrive in showrooms with several key features missing including critical safety features and even the wireless Apple CarPlay feature. The omission of these features (Volvo says that they will be added in later OTA updates) has not sat well with customers with one dealer telling the folks at Carbuzz.com that roughly 40% of his pre-orders for the EX90 had been canceled which is a big blow to long-term profits. These cancellations also represent people moving to other brands as their patience with Volvo wanes and the EX90 comes up short against more established models which have more feature content for customers to experience the moment that they purchase a vehicle versus the EX90 which expects early buyers to initially live without them before they slowly trickle into the SUV later.
More Volvo Stories
- First Drive: 2024 Volvo EX30
- Volvo’s EX90 Flagship EV Finally Enters Production After Two Year Delay
- Volvo EM90 Will Be its First Minivan — and it’s All-Electric
EX90 still on track for 2024 launch
Despite all the delays, Volvo is still moving full steam ahead with the EX90’s launch. The model is still slated to arrive in early 2024 and pre-ordering for the model has been open for some time now. It will be interesting to see how the EX90 does in the long run, especially when you consider that it will be arriving at an early disadvantage due to the price increase as well as some of the features that it will be missing when it makes its way to dealer lots.
Volvo hasn’t stated if it has plans to adjust prices or give the first wave of owners credits to make up for the missing content. If it does choose to eventually give credits, it would follow a similar action by General Motors when COVID-related chip shortages forced them to give $25 credits to consumers to make up for the initial lack of a heated steering wheel and heated seats before those items were retrofitted in after chip supplies stabilized.
I think $76,995 was plenty reason to”… dent the model’s success in certain markets including the U.S.”
It’s made in China (not mentioned, just a slip I’m sure) so the labor cost is near zero and the build quality is, well, it’s Chinese.
Excuse me if I don’t feel sorry for Volvo or the Chinese workers.