New Volvo EX60 gets up to 680hp, 500-miles range
EX30 too small? EX90 too massive? Time for an EX60 to split the difference
2026 looks like being a very good year for those after a family-friendly EV SUV from a premium carmaker. The BMW iX3 is imminent, as is the Alpine A390, to go alongside the Audi Q6 and Porsche Macan siblings and the others we’ve probably forgotten. It’s a sector that would seem tailor-made for Volvo as it continues its electrified push upmarket, and here we have its mid-size SUV offering - the EX60.
In sensible, logical Volvo fashion, it’s exactly what you might expect from a car called EX60. It’s electric, it’s (mostly) all-wheel drive, and it’s a similar sort of size to the existing, combustion-engined XC60 SUV. This is an electric take on the current bestseller, not a reinvention of the brand. Styling cues are borrowed from both the smaller EX30 and larger EX90, battery and motor specs are familiar from the ES90 saloon, and the third generation of the SPA (Scalable Platform Architecture), though new for this ‘60, is an evolution of the SPA2 used for cars like the EX90 and Polestar 3.
In an automotive world seemingly so determined to shock and surprise at every turn, it’s quite nice to see a car that - by and large - is exactly as expected. Modern and sophisticated and crammed full of tech, of course, but the kind of SUV you would expect Volvo to build. Because people like buying the other Volvo SUVs. Leave the triple motor torque vectoring shenanigans to Alpine - this is going to be the big Volvo bus, reinvented for the mid-2020s. There’s even a Cross Country version.
Beneath ‘the best of progressive Scandinavian design for the electric era’, the EX60 will be offered as a single-motor, rear-drive P6 with 374hp, a 510hp, dual-motor P10, or a P12, which has 680hp from its pair of motors. The top-of-the-range car gets a whopper of a battery, too; while the rear-drive model gets just 80kWh usable, enough for 385 miles on the WLTP test, and the P10 91kWh for 410, the P12 is packing an XXL 112kWh battery. That means a WLTP range of up to 503 miles, with 370kW DC charging as well.
With efficiency a priority, the EX60 uses cell-to-body tech to better energy density in the battery, new and improved e-motors plus megacasting - replacing lots of small parts with big casts - to reduce weight. It still weighs anything from 2,115kg to 2,330kg, but by today’s chubby standards that’s hardly egregious; efficiency is rated at 4.27mi/kWh for the P6, 3.96 for the P10 and 3.88 for the P12, aided by a drag co-efficient of 0.26. Bi-directional charging is included on all models.
Anyone who’s attempted to maintain a semblance of calm while having to lug everything a baby and a pet requires on a long trip will know how important an interior is. Volvo claims the inside of an EX60 is designed ‘for stress-free, convenient and safe journeys’, taking a lot of familiar XC60 cues ‘but with even more efficiency and refinement, and still elegant and confident.’ So the driver’s view is dominated by a large, landscape screen in the middle, though it appears less drastically pared back than the EX30, and lots of light materials keep it airy. Boot space (this is still a Volvo, after all), is rated at 634 litres with the seats up (and including underfloor storage) or 1,647 litres with them down.
With the entire EX60 built on Volvo’s Superset tech stack, some of the features will sound familiar from the other EVs. So this gets the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin core computer that’s recently made it to the Polestar 3, which means 254 trillion operations per second (!) and the ability to upgrade safety features and performance over time. The Qualcomm 8255 CPU processor should mean Google Gemini can provide an AI-enhanced interior experience, which the kids will probably be thrilled about. And we’ll promise to keep the chat about engines in future, wherever possible.
As always when it comes to Volvos, if there’s a Cross Country variant available, it’s the Cross Country that you want. While not drastically different to a standard EX60 - 20mm taller, wider track, the arch cladding - the CC is ever so slightly more rugged. And that’s better - look at those people wearing Patagonia to walk the cockapoo around the park. We like to look like our lifestyle is more active than it is, which the Cross Country looks perfectly suited for. There’s a skid plate and everything.
Volvo says that all variants of the EX60 will be available to pre-order from launch, with first deliveries of the P6 and P10 models due in the summer. That P12 range monster will arrive later in the year. Hopefully just in time for the new school year - imagine being the first parents to arrive at the gates with one of these…
-> P6 : £57k
-> P10 : £60k
-> P12 : £65k
Ultra Spec is another £5.5k extra on the above
Fully designed and built in Sweden
Will be tricky choosing a replacement for my iX this year. This Volvo is more grown up, with the BMW iX3 having the sport edge design.
It's a shame because Volvo are a brand I considered still did things their own way as much as they could.
I really struggle to see how some people get excited for this kind of thing though.
Performance is big as well on Volvo side, so not sure what polestar brings apart from some gold callipers, but it might just be me to be fair.
I really struggle to see how some people get excited for this kind of thing though.
Yes, it would be even more exciting if it was Ferrari, Lamborghini or McLaren shopping, but we all have to be realistic
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