Small yet mighty” is Volvo’s marketing slogan for their new EX30, and there’s something in that. It’s not Volvo’s first small car, because they’ve been intermittently doing that for years, from the half-forgotten 300 series to the C30 and the last, the Ford Focus-based V40. All were highly popular in their day, but now comes something small but revelatory: Volvo’s miniature SUV, and it’s all-electric too – no diesel, petrol or hybrid variants will be offered.
Externally it looks very much like the established XC40, but internally, for the cabin bay materials, they’ve opted for some quite audacious and risky choices. There’s also a version of the EX30 that can propel you from a standing start to 60mph in 3.6 seconds – the most accelerative Volvo of all time. Hence the “mighty.” So, yes, quite the departure.
