Back in the 1990s, before the SUV boom, Volvo’s V70 Cross Country was a popular choice for buyers who needed a little more off-road ability or just didn’t want to be seen driving a plain-old wagon, which, to most people was about as cool as a combover.
Fast forward 25 years and SUVs are very much the heart of Volvo’s lineup, but the automaker hasn’t forgotten its Cross Country badge. You can still buy a crossover-ized wagon in the form of the V60 and V90 Cross Country, and now Volvo has announced it’s applying the name to an off-road-themed version of its new EX30 electric SUV.
Available to order for the 2025 model year from 2024, and hitting the road later that same year, the EX30 Cross Country is unlikely to be a serious Moab-grade off-road machine, but Volvo’s designers have ticked all the obvious boxes, adding generous helpings of black plastic to the nose, tail and lower sections of the doors that give it a much tougher look.
That fairly deep front spoiler looks like it will limit its rock-crawling potential, but Volvo says the Cross Country will feature skid plates front and rear and offer additional ground clearance, so maybe there’s some substance behind the style. Standard wheels will measure 19 inches across, but 18-inch wheels with gnarlier off-road rubber will also be available, as seen in these photos. Let’s hope the roof rack also makes it to the options list, though we dread to think what effect it would have on the EX’s electric driving range.
Related: The 2025 EX30 Is Volvo’s Smallest And Fastest Model Ever, Starts At $34,950
Volvo hasn’t revealed an official range figure for the Cross Country, or even what the powertrain lineup will look like, though they’re unlikely to be any different from what’s being offered in the regular EX30. The only question is which of those EX30 options will make the cut. The EX range starts with a single 268 hp (272 PS) electric motor and 54 kWh LFP battery that’s good for 200 EPA miles (322 km) and 214 WLTP miles (344 km), but buyers have the option of mating the same motor with a 69 kWh NMC battery that boosts driving range by over 35 percent.
Given the Cross Country’s off-road pretensions, however, Volvo might decide to limit customers to the all-wheel drive setup from the EX30 Twin Motor Performance. That develops 422 hp (428 PS), offers 265 EPA miles (286 miles / 460 km WLTP) of range, and storms to 60 mph in only 3.4 seconds (3.6 to 100 km/h), making it the fastest accelerating production Volvo of all time.
The base EX starts at a tempting $34,950 (€36,000 / £33,795) but we imagine a Twin Motor Cross Country will cost at least a third as much again when it arrives next year. Would you like to see Volvo offer a Cross Country package on its other SUVs?
