Volvo EX90 production finally starts, nearly 20 months after debut

Volvo has announced the start of production of the EX90 at its factory near Charleston, South Carolina in the United States, nearly 20 months after the fully electric SUV first made its global debut back in November 2022.

According to the Swedish carmaker, the first EX90 to roll off the line is painted in Denim Blue, with the first customer deliveries set to commence in the second half of the year. Volvo’s South Carolina facility is the first manufacturing plant in the US that opened in the summer of 2018. In addition to the EX90, the factory also makes the S60 and has a capacity of 150,000 units annually.

Over the years, the company has invested in the facility to renew and expanded both the body shop and paint shop. To support electric vehicle (EV) production, there’s also a state-of-the-art battery pack production line.

Volvo EX90 production finally starts, nearly 20 months after debut – EV SUV launching in Malaysia in Q4

While production of the EX90 has begun in the US, it has yet to start in China. The SUV was originally due to begin production in late 2023 in the US as well as Volvo’s plant in Chengdu, but software bugs which also affected the Polestar 3 forced the company to push the start of production to 2024.

The EX90 has already been confirmed for Malaysia and is expected to go on sale here by the fourth quarter of this year. Volvo’s flagship EV SUV will only arrive after the smaller EX30, which made its debut in June 2023, with production starting at the company’s Zhangjiakou plant in China the same year. In October 2023, Volvo said it would begin building the EX30 at its Ghent plant in Belgium from 2025 to cope with high demand.

In the US, the seven-seat EX90 is offered with two all-wheel drive powertrains, both with a lithium-ion battery from CATL that has a usable energy capacity of 107 kWh (111 kWh gross). The base Twin Motor is rated at 408 PS (402 hp or 300 kW) and 770 Nm, while the higher-spec Twin Motor Performance packs 517 PS (510 hp or 380 kW) and 910 Nm. The estimated range is up to 600 km following the WLTP standard for the Twin Motor, or 590 km with the Twin Motor Performance.