Volvo Car South Africa has revealed that early demand for its new fully electric EX30 has been strong, with the South African market ranking in the top ten for pre-orders in the broader Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.
The Volvo EX30 – which is positioned as one of the most affordable full-size electric vehicles (EVs) in South Africa – was revealed to the world on 7 June 2023. Local pre-orders opened the following day. Since then, South Africans have placed over 150 pre-orders. Many more have registered expressions of interest on Volvo Car South Africa’s website, according to the company.
Volvo EVs outsell rivals
For context, electric vehicle sales in South Africa in the first half of 2023 totalled 501 units, according to industry representative body Naamsa. The Swedish automaker is leading the sales charge in the fully electric premium C-SUV segment thanks to the sales performances of the XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge. The scheduled arrival of the EX30 in the first quarter of 2024 means Volvo is poised to further increase its share in the growing EV market, the company said in a statement.
A need for speed
So far, the EX30 Twin Motor Performance Ultra (R995 900) has been the most popular derivative with South Africans, accounting for nearly half of all local pre-orders. Next comes the Single Motor Plus Extended Range (R865 900) at around 25% of pre-orders, followed by the entry-level Single Motor Core variant (R775 900), the flagship Twin Motor Performance Plus (R935 900) and the Single Motor Ultra Extended Range (R965 900). The most affordable new full-size electric vehicle for sale in the country is the BYD Atto 3 Standard (R768 000), which is 222 mm longer than the Volvo EX30.
Growing interest in EVs
“Since the EX30 was revealed, we have seen a steady flow of new orders weekly. Although we have already secured a high allocation of units for 2024, there’s an increasingly strong chance we will need to boost that figure,” says Greg Maruszewski, Volvo Car South Africa Managing Director.
He adds that the early demand proves just how interested South African buyers are in EVs, particularly when such vehicles are both high-quality products and priced close to equivalent internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.
“We worked tirelessly to set EX30 pricing at an extremely competitive level in order to grant South African consumers the chance to own an electric SUV for the price of a similarly sized ICE vehicle. Our pre-orders so far prove that we got that right,” Maruszewski says.
Quicker than your Porsche
The five-strong EX30 range starts at R775 900. In 315 kW Twin Motor Performance guise (R995 900), the newcomer is the fastest-accelerating Volvo ever, completing the 0-100 km/h sprint in a mere 3.6 seconds. This makes the performance EX30 faster from 0-100 km/h than these high-performance electric cars:
BMW i4 M50 (R1 696 200)
Porsche Taycan 4S (R2 869 000)
Mercedes-AMG EQS53 4Matic+ sedan (R3 418 600)
Faster than fuel
It’s also faster to 100 than these fuel burners:
Audi TT RS coupe quattro (R1 259 700)
Toyota GR Supra 3.0T auto (R1 524 400)
Porsche 911 Carrera coupe (R2 158 000)
The extended-range version of the Single Motor (rear-wheel drive) EX30, meanwhile, is capable of travelling up to 480 km (on the WLTP cycle) before requiring a recharge. This translates into a real-world range of over 400 km, which is excellent.
EX30 orders can be placed on the MyVolvo website.
