MOMS KNOW BEST

Volvo's XC90 was the stereotypical Soccer Mom car. So how will the all-electric EX90 be received among the soccer pitches of Orange County?

- OLLIE MARRIAGE

I’ve just shown Jenn how to operate the EX90’s massage seats. “That is so good,” chips in her friend Lex. It’s the only time the pair of them have sat still. They’ve investigated every nook and cranny of Volvo’s new electric SUV, from the 34-litre frunk (“not big enough, I couldn’t get a cooler in there”), to clambering into the rearmost row (“I’d be happy here for a short journey”), even counted every cupholder (“that’s all of them?! That is not enough. And they are too small for a sports cup”). And overall? “Y’know I wasn’t expecting it to be so big inside. It looks pretty small on the outside.” The EX90 is over five metres long, but Lex drives a Ford Expedition.

Lex and Jenn are Soccer Moms. Demeaning? Not a bit, especially at Orange County Soccer Club on a warm Saturday morning with the shouts and cheers of a kids tournament coming from the surrounding pitches. Here the term is worn like badge of honour.

Could either of them see themselves owning an EX90? Lex is unconvinced: “If I had two kids maybe, but it’s just not big enough for my three.” Jenn shuttles her three kids around in a white Tesla Model Y, and admits that “is cramped in the back, your head’s all cranked over. I nearly switched to a Rivian SUV last year, but I love this. I think it would be perfect – if it had more cupholders – and the white seats look lovely now, but I couldn’t have them.”

The Soccer Moms have spoken. This tribe is global. Sure, it has different names in other countries, but the target audience is precisely the same. Affluent middle class families with kids who do clubs and sports, mums (and it does tend to be mums) on the runaround after them. The safe, capacious, family focused Volvo XC90 was long their north star. The EX90 is unlikely to get such an easy ride.