The crucial new Volvo EX60 electric family SUV, described as a “cornerstone” of the firm’s future line-up, will be revealed on 21 January.
The Swedish firm has been gradually hyping the launch of the new EV for months and CEO Håkan Samuelsson has now confirmed its reveal date on social media platform LinkedIn with an early look at the finished car.
Tucked behind a group of workers at the Torslanda plant in Gothenburg, where it will be produced, it appears to have a low bonnet line and a smoother, more aerodynamic design than its combustion-engined counterpart, the XC60.
Narrow front headlights featuring Volvo’s ‘Thor’s Hammer’ design, similar to those on the EX90 large SUV, can also be seen.
Samuelsson said the car has been “designed and developed in Gothenburg” and “can’t get much more Swedish”.
Volvo confirmed that the EX60 will be its first car to use the firm’s “latest technology base”, adding that it will “deliver a longer electric range than any Volvo car before it”. It is set to beat the Volvo ES90 saloon, which is expected to offer an official WLTP range of 435 miles using a 106kWh battery.
The new technology base that the EX60 will use is Volvo’s advanced, highly scalable SPA3 platform, which is effectively a successor to the platform that underpins the EX90 and ES90. This new architecture will allow Volvo to add both smaller and larger cars to its line-up, and can accommodate a wide range of battery sizes.
As with those models, the EX60 will be designed around an advanced software stack, giving it the capability to accept over-the-air updates and extra features.
Anders Bell, Volvo’s engineering and technology chief, called the SPA3 platform “100% electric and 100% Volvo Cars”, rather than a shared Geely group platform, such as the SEA platform used for the EX30 crossover.