Volvo has much riding on its new electric vehicle, the EX60. But the automaker is now facing severe production delays that have crippled early volume estimates and left North American dealerships waiting.
Assembly challenges at Volvo’s primary Torslanda plant in Sweden have restricted production output to roughly 10 percent of its weekly 2,000-unit target. As a result, Volvo is prioritizing European deliveries, where EV adoption is far stronger than it is on our side of the pond. And that is pushing back large-scale deliveries to U.S. and Canada volume farther into 2027.
Megacasting and cell-to-body issues
Volvo isn’t a stranger to launch setbacks, but recent ones like the one affecting the rollout of the EX90 have been driven by software glitches. Not so with the EX60, afflicted by ills of a strictly physical nature. The midsize electric crossover relies on new manufacturing processes, including megacasting (casting large structural body sections in single aluminum pieces) and cell-to-body battery integration, where battery cells are integrated directly into the chassis frame.
In a statement addressing the bottleneck, Volvo spokesperson Jacquelyn Johnson noted that “With megacasting, cell-to-body and more, it introduces industry-first state-of-the-art concepts for which there are no blueprints to copy. Therefore, the ramp-up phase takes a little longer than initially planned."
Production numbers a fraction of initial goals
Series production of the EX60 began in late April 2026, but the plant has struggled to find its rhythm. While Volvo initially planned for 8,000 units per month, global delivery estimates from GlobalData indicate just 500 units were delivered in July, followed by roughly 250 in August.
The target volume for the U.S. was initially set at 7,000 units for year one of the model, but Volvo has delivered by a handful to date. It appears almost certain that the automaker will not meet its global delivery target of 60,000 units for the first year of the EX60’s existence.
Dealership impact and financial pressure
The delays are adding insult to injury right now for Volvo, which posted an 11-percent drop in global deliveries in the third quarter of 2026. To preserve capital, the Geely-owned automaker has frozen white-collar hiring globally and scrapped its 2026 cash-flow outlook.
All the while, German luxury rivals like BMW and Mercedes-Benz are shipping competing new electric crossovers like the iX3 and GLC Electric to North America. Volvo dealers are left to rely on sales of legacy plug-in hybrid models like the XC60 and XC90 PHEVs as they wait for the production hiccups to subside.
Here’s the new outlook for Volvo: it expects allocated EX60 units to arrive in the U.S. in limited numbers early next year, with full production ramp-up and regular shipping volumes delayed until the second half of 2027.