Volvo Has Royally Ticked Off EX90 Customers With Price Hikes And Missing Features

It’s safe to say that the rollout of Volvo’s next-generation electric vehicle lineup hasn’t exactly gone to plan. First the little EX30 has been delayed until 2025, and now the Volvo EX90 electric three-row crossover will arrive later than expected, cost more than expected, and be missing several promised features at launch. Unsurprisingly, reservation holders aren’t exactly happy.

Volvo has raised U.S. pricing of the EX90 three-row crossover by $3,300 across the entire lineup, so the new base price is a whopping $81,290 including freight. What’s more, reservation holders are actually getting less for their money because several key features won’t be available at launch. Apple CarPlay, bi-directional charging, forward cross-traffic alert, and LIDAR-based advanced driver assistance systems, for example. This comes on top of months of delays, as this electric crossover was supposed to go on sale in America early in 2024, but now won’t arrive until close to the end of this year.

Back in the years before over-the-air updates, a handful of cars had features unavailable at launch marked with the brand of “delayed availability.” While you couldn’t get these features as an early adopter, you also didn’t have to pay for them. Not getting what you didn’t pay for? Yeah, that sounds like a fair deal.

driving

The difference is that now, automakers are charging for these features and then pushing them out eventually via over-the-air or dealer flash updates. Remember, it took Volvo years to get Apple CarPlay in its Android Automotive infotainment systems, so who knows when all these systems will be active on the Volvo EX90?

As for the other half of the equation, pricing for vehicles announced months, if not years in advance of their actual on-sale dates has proven to have questionable accuracy, and that’s a disturbing trend. The Chevrolet Blazer EV’s purported base model vanished into thin air, the promised $35,000 Tesla Model 3 never materialized, and the $3,300 price hike on the Volvo EX90 has some reservation holders taking to the internet, announcing the cancelation of their orders and dismay of the current situation.

Volvo EX90 order cancelation

Comparing Volvo to a Kickstarter campaign stings, but is it unreasonable to expect an expensive luxury car to not just be finished, but isn’t actually priced as was initially promised?

Volvo EX90 reservation cancelled

Given the depreciation rates of new EVs, waiting a year to see what the used market’s like seems like it could be a smart move. After all, the final driver in just about every purchase is price.

Volvo EX90 reservation cancelled

Of course, not everyone seems as calm about canceling reservations, but for good reason. The Volvo EX90 is a premium product, and it’s only natural to feel slighted by the delays, missing features at launch, and now this price hike.

Volvo EX90 price hike

Oh, and from the sounds of it, Volvo may not have initially done a great job of explaining the price hike to customers. Communication’s important, and it seems like Volvo dropped the ball here.

Ex90 Exterior

The Volvo EX90 is a great example of why automakers need to slow down announcing new models. While showing off a vehicle super early and announcing an early price and features set creates a splash, waiting in silence until closer to the actual market launch can significantly mitigate disappointment because disappointment sends potential buyers elsewhere. As a Volvo retailer told Automotive News, the circus around the EX90 has killed “about 40 percent” of its EX90 reservations, and that’s a huge figure. Let’s see what the sales numbers say towards the end of this year when the EX90 is now expected to go on sale in America.

(Photo credits: Volvo, Reddit)

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