Without any fanfare, and with sharp surprise to some dealerships and reservation holders, Automotive News reports Volvo upped the price on all EX90 trims by $3,300. The automaker told the outlet that it raised prices on May 1, a month before the EX90 entered production after almost a year of delays. Volvo said it told its dealer body and reservation holders about the increase on June 26, the same day it informed reservation holders that the electric SUV would miss certain features on delivery and be programmed with workarounds for some unsolved issues like battery drainage when parked. The omissions include at least one of the lidar-centric safety systems that Volvo touted as putting the EX90 ahead of the competition when the car launched. The company told one reservation holder the software gaps would be filled in sometime in the “early ownership” phase, the only rational kind of non-answer available to automakers working through EV bugs.
We couldn’t find any active EX90 forum threads about the price increase, a strange absence for an anticipated vehicle with more than 10,000 preorders. In a Reddit thread from June 27, a commenter writes, “Just got my [EX90] customization email and the price has indeed increased to $79,995 + $1,295 destination fee,” making it sound like being surprised by the automaker instead of being informed, such surprise matching a story another potential buyer told AN. And now a note on the EX90 configurator warns shoppers that “Ventilated Nordico is expected to be delivered towards the latter part of the estimated delivery time above.” Since there are no delivery times yet, that means no ventilated seats for U.S. buyers for an unknown amount of time.
The new MSRPs figures for EX90 in base Twin Motor form after the $1,295 destination charge are:
- Plus 7-seater: $81,290
- Plus 6-seater: $81,790
- Ultra 7-seater: $85,640
- Ultra 6-seater: $86,140
Add $5,000 to these prices to for the Twin Motor Performance drivetrain. Both versions run off a 111-kWh battery from CATL. The first provides a total of 402 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque, and a 0-60 time of 5.7 seconds. The performance version is good for 496 horsepower and 671 pound-feet of torque, shrinking the 0-60 time to 4.7 seconds.
A company spokesperson named rising materials costs as the culprit.
When Volvo announced entry-level pricing of $77,990 last November, the EX90 undercut the $79,050 Mercedes-EQS EQE SUV, the $79,800 Rivian R1S, the $79,900 Tesla Model X, and the $88,095 BMW iX. Now, the EX90 is more expensive than the Mercedes and the Tesla. Rivian’s updated R1S comes with a new pack that drops the entry price to $77,700 for 270 miles of range, the larger pack — the basis of last year’s comparison — now running $84,700 for 330 miles of range from a seven-seater that is more powerful, quicker, and boasts a slightly longer range than the EX90.
Since, according to Volvo, no “firm orders or non-refundable deposits” for the EX90 came in before the May 1 price increase (because Volvo wasn’t accepting firm orders), even reservation holders who got on the EX90 train the day the SUV debuted, November 30, 2023, are on the hook for the new price if they want the car. Reservation holders were already trickling out the door because of the production and software delays. This latest update is certain to add to that number — some of those jumping ship explain themselves in another Reddit thread — the question is by how much.
