Volvo and Polestar flagship crossovers delayed due to software issues

The start of production of the Volvo EX90 and Polestar 3 has been postponed to next year due to the need to improve the control software. This news provoked a noticeable drop in the share prices of both Swedish companies.

Earlier this week, we reported that U.S. electric vehicle startup Fisker was forced to delay the launch of its first Ocean model for several months due to software issues, and mentioned that many automakers, including large and experienced. The most striking example is the Volkswagen concern, which delayed the release of a dozen new products due to raw software and fired its chairman Herbert Diess last year.

For Volvo Cars and Polestar, the situation does not seem too dramatic so far, but because of it, nevertheless, the shares of Swedish companies fell in price on the stock exchange by 6 and 12%, respectively. Volvo Cars and Polestar, we recall, are part of the powerful Chinese holding company Geely, which is able to pour money into any problem, but Polestar management still announced tighter control over costs, the suspension of hiring new staff and adjusting the sales plan for this year: the target volume is reduced from 80,000 cars to 60,000 — 70,000. Last year, Polestar sold 51,491 electric vehicles worldwide, and by the end of 2025 wants to reach the level of 290,000 vehicles per year.

Volvo Cars, in turn, did not report anything about adjusting the sales plan. Last year, global sales of Volvo Cars amounted to 615,121 vehicles, targeting 1.2 million vehicles per year by the end of 2025.

Volvo EX90 1/3 Volvo EX90 2/3 Volvo EX90 3/3

The Volvo EX90 and Polestar 3 are sister models built on the new SPA2 (Scalable Product Architecture 2) modular platform developed jointly by Volvo and Geely, they have the same wheelbase of 2985 mm, the front suspension is double wishbones, the rear is multi-link . The Volvo EX90 had its world premiere last November, the Polestar 3 was declassified a month earlier.

Polestar 3 1/3 Polestar 3 2/3 The Polestar 3 3/3 December this year, now the release date is designated as «the first half of 2024», the Volvo EX90 dealers will not appear before the third quarter of the same year. The Polestar 3 was supposed to be on the assembly line this summer, the new launch date is the first quarter of 2024. Both crossovers will be produced at Volvo plants in Ridgeville (USA, South Carolina) and Chengdu (China, Sichuan province). All-wheel drive top versions of both crossovers have a twin-engine power plant with a combined output of 380 kW (517 hp) and 910 Nm.

Problems with software do not affect the Polestar crossover, which debuted in April this year 4, as it is built on the Geely-developed SEA (Sustainable Experience Architecture) platform, the start of production in China is scheduled for November this year.