SWEDEN'S SMALLEST OVERTHINKER

Looks like it came from IKEA, goes like it came from NASA

- WORDS SANEET DSILVA PHOTOGRAPHY SIDDHARTH DADHE

What you see above is the Volvo EX30. It is a small electric SUV, although that label is already misleading because it has the footprint of a large hatchback, the kerb weight of a modest celestial moon, and a name that sounds like it belongs to a minor character in Star Wars. It is the smallest SUV Volvo has ever produced and also its most affordable electric car.

It was designed in Sweden, where people are very good at making things that look neat and sensible, developed in China, which is currently the world's largest producer of electric vehicles, and now it is also assembled in Bangalore.

Last year, it won the 2023 BBC Top Gear Eco Warrior of the Year award in the UK, which sounds quite noble. The real question, however, is whether it makes any sense in India, a country where the traffic is chaotic, summers are brutally hot, and an instinctive suspicion of anything that tries to be too clever.

LOOKS LIKE IT’S FROM A DIFFERENT PLANET

Let’s start with the obvious: this is not your average SUV. The EX30 looks sharp. Clean, even. It’s like a concept car that somehow slipped through and ended up on the road. Thor’s hammer lights, no grille, bulging arches, it’s clean, futuristic, and still recognisably a Volvo. Even better, it’s available in real colours, like Cloud Blue, instead of the usual grayscale palette. But India does miss out on the bright yellow colour that is offered globally.

It’s compact, about 4.2 metres long, but it has the presence of something bigger. And with a proper EV-only platform underneath, it’s tightly proportioned and purposeful in stance. If you spec it right and don’t go for dull black, it'll turn heads in a sea of German sameness.

MINIMALIST OR MASOCHIST?