Volvo is pulling the plug on its smallest and least expensive EV this week. The automaker is winding down US-bound production and imports of the EX30 and EX30 Cross Country over the coming weeks, with the last examples wrapping up the 2026 model year at the end of this summer due to financial and market considerations. In other words, tariffs are up, and sales are down.
It’s a tough time to be selling EVs in the US right now. Volvo joins a growing list of automakers reassessing or outright canceling their electric car ambitions in the US due to market and political conditions over the last year. Earlier this year, Chevrolet announced that it would be ending production of its highly anticipated Chevrolet Bolt revival after just one model year. Last week, Honda announced the cancellation of its upcoming 0-Series of US-built electric cars before even reaching production, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The EX30’s arrival and short stay in the US has been fraught with challenges. The small SUV was first announced in 2023, billed as an affordable electric option starting below $35,000. I was impressed by the EX30 during my first drive review, calling it my most anticipated affordable EV of 2024. Volvo initially planned to keep manufacturing costs down by building the EX30 in China, but Biden administration tariffs forced the automaker to move production of US-bound examples to its plant in Ghent, Belgium.
By the time the EX30 arrived in the US, it was thousands of dollars more than initially predicted.
Preproduction software issues further delayed the EV’s limited arrival to late 2024 with sales ramping up in early 2025 — just in time to get hit by the Trump administration’s unpredictable new tariffs. Today, the EX30 starts at $40,344 in the US, then climbs to just shy of $50,000 for the dual-motor model with the best tech — a tough sell for a subcompact SUV even at the best of times. In 2025, Volvo reported only 5,409 EX30s sold in the US and a 60.5% decrease in overall electrified vehicle sales versus 2024.
When reached for comment, a representative from Volvo confirmed that, “Volvo Car USA has decided to end sales of the EX30 and EX30 Cross Country in the US market after the 2026 model year.”
The automaker tells me that the EX30 will remain available in global markets and will continue to be imported and sold in Mexico and Canada. Recently, Volvo’s flagship EX90 — which is built at Volvo’s South Carolina factory — ceased 2026 model year exports to Canada, a victim of retaliatory counter tariffs aimed at the US. When asked how this shakeup will affect its roadmap, a Volvo representative told CNET that the company’s goal of a fully electrified global lineup by 2030 remains unchanged.
Volvo only sold 5,409 EX30s in 2025.
“Volvo Cars’ commitment to electrification and our customers remains unchanged,” the representative told CNET, “and we look forward to continuing to bring exciting new electrified options to our customers in the US, including the all-new EX60 and upgraded EX90.”
In January, at the debut of the upcoming Volvo EX60, it was my professional opinion that the new mid-range model would be a make-or-break point for the brand’s US ambitions after the tumultuous rollouts of its first two dedicated EV models. With the EX30 soon to be gone and in an increasingly dangerous market where only the strongest models survive, Volvo now finds itself in an even more perilous position.
