We had very mixed feelings on meeting this small EV in Spain. How about in Britain?
MATT SAUNDERS @thedarkstormy1
TESTED 22.2.24, BERKSHIRE ON SALE MARCH
Centralisation’ might yet turn out to be the Marmite vehicle design concept of 2024. This is the reason that the Volvo EX30 – rolling out to UK customers as of next week – has so few items of physical switchgear, no instrument binnacle at all and a large, portrait-oriented multimedia touchscreen that therefore has to convey and control so many more functions and so much more information than seems altogether good for it.
So ask yourself, reader: are you a believer of the rationale that by designing the car’s layout of controls so determinedly around that touchscreen, Volvo’s interior designers genuinely thought they could meaningfully reduce the number of switches, knobs, displays, chips and other electrical components needed elsewhere and in doing so make a simpler, lighter and more sustainable car?
I’m not sure I do. There must be so many bolder things that Volvo could have done to make a more ethical small EV, surely, than taking away its instrument display and door mirror adjusters?
This approach certainly takes component cost and manufacturing complexity out of the EX30, which certainly saves Volvo a few quid. But what about ease of use, clarity and simple functionality – those classic Volvo qualities? Are they adversely affected? Will the zoomers that the company is courting for the first time really not notice? Isn’t good design supposed to ensure that the more ethical solution can also simply be a better one all round?
Autocar is set to bring you both group test and road test verdicts on the EX30 in the coming weeks, and both will be informed by many hours and miles spent interacting with this contentious interior concept – so we will see. For now, I will say it’s a shame for digital usability to so dominate the early exchanges, because the EX30 is a very handsome thing – evidence, perhaps, of the Polestarification of Volvo’s next chapter of design, but no less desirable for it.
On the inside, this car seems a bit mean in its second-row practicality, considering the platform it shares with the more spacious Smart #1, but it offers plenty of room up front and a cleverly conjured premium ambience. Even lower-trim-level versions use unusual but appealing materials across the fascia and doors and bake in plenty of solid material quality through the few physical controls that do appear.
Back to that
