Volvo is trying to put its EV stumbles in the rearview

A striking development has emerged in artificial intelligence. Transportation TransportationPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All Transportation Cars CarsPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All Cars Electric Cars Electric CarsPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

FollowSee All Electric CarsVolvo is trying to put its EV stumbles in the rearviewThe release of the EX60 marks the Swedish automaker’s attempts at a redo. The release of the EX60 marks the Swedish automaker’s attempts at a redo. HawkinsTransportation editorPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

Technical Details

FollowSee All by Andrew J. HawkinsMay 20, 2026, 5:30 PM UTC Image: GettyPart OfThe great EV pullback: all the obstacles, cancellations, and delayssee all updates Andrew J. HawkinsPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

FollowSee All by Andrew J. Hawkins is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State.

Volvo once had ambitions to fully exit the gas car business. Now it’s trying to keep its tenuous foothold in the EV market. It’s not an understatement to say that Volvo’s EV journey has been a bumpy one.

Industry Implications

The compact EX40 has been a consistent winner, but the Swedish brand’s other EVs have been plagued with problems. The EX90 was supposed to be a bold statement for the future, but persistent software bugs have forced Volvo into an expensive hardware replacement. The tiny EX30 faired no better, with tariffs upending the rollout of the brand’s first mass-market affordable EV, eventually leading to its discontinuation in the US.

But now with the EX60 compact SUV, Volvo is hoping to get its EV groove back. Volvo’s top executives gathered in New York City this week to mark the new compact SUV’s US debut and to celebrate the opening of orders for customer deliveries later this summer. Starting at $59,795, the next-gen EX60 will be more expensive than the regular, gas-powered XC60 crossover, which has recently become Volvo’s top-selling model of all time.

But it will be less expensive than the plug-in hybrid XC60, which says a lot given the popularity of hybrids these days. But the EX60 will arrive in what is arguably the most hostile environment for EVs since their inception, thanks to the elimination of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, policy changes, and tariffs making vehicles of all types more expensive. As EV sales grow globally, the American market is in an obvious slump.

This advance offers important signals about the future of the sector, and the tech world is watching closely.