Auto Express – Issue 1923 0410 March 2026 – Auto Express

Whichofthese£100kpremiumelectricSUVsisourpick? Otis Clay www.autoexpress.co.uk 4March2026 39 www.autoexpress.co.uk 40 4March2026 WHILE German firms dominate the premium sectors of the market, you aren’t limited to Audi, BMW or Mercedes if you want a posh machine. One maker that has stepped up to take on the big three is Volvo, and in the large electric SUV segment it has launched the EX90, a bespoke seven-seater designed to sit alongside the long-lived XC90.

The EX90 shares many aspects with the XC90, including a strong emphasis on design- led luxury, a seven-seat layout and, of course, Volvo’s commitment to class-leading safety. We had to wait a little while for the EX90 to hit showrooms, so much so that it has already been subject to a range of updates for what Volvo’s out to challenge German posh-car dominance with EX90 VolvoEX90 RATHER than electrifying its existing models, Volvo is launching bespoke EVs to sell alongside its combustion-engined cars.

The EX90 has similar proportions to theXC90,andretainsitsseven-seatlayout. There are three variants available, a 92kWh Single Motor, 106kWh Twin Motor and 106kWh Performance, with Plus trim offered on the first two and Ultra trim for the latter pair. Prices range from £80,160 to £97,460, although standard equipment is generous across the board.

Volvo calls its 2027 model year. These largely focus on new powertrains with improved efficiency and performance, leaving the luxury and safety broadly unchanged. So how does the Volvo EX90 measure up? There aren’t many seven-seat premium EVs on sale, so for this test we’ve lined up our favourite five-seat electric SUV, the BMW iX. An update in 2025 saw the car given a visual makeover and powertrain updates, too, but as with the Volvo, its core qualities of modern luxury and decent efficiency remained unchanged, as did the BMW’s fine mix of ride and handling.

Reveal the deals at carwow.co.uk *Saving off RRP. Promo ends 31/03/26. T&Cs apply. 4 March 2026 5 I PROMISED myself I’d take a week off opining about electric vehicles, despite their seemingly permanent place at the top of the news cycle. Then stuff happened – both bad and almost good – in the EV positivity stakes. First, the almost good news, in that the Government upped its charging point grant by £150, so you’ll now get £500 off installation (as long as you don’t own your own home with a driveway).

That weird caveat is still in play, so the people who can transition to EVs most easily are the only ones not to get the incentive. I know it’s harder for people without driveways, or those who rent, or live in a flat, to get a charger installed, so the grant is a handy way of encouraging them or their landlords to make that extra effort.

However, excluding the roughly half of the population who can most easily make the switch just seems petty. At this point, if the Government is actually serious about moving us into electric cars, the more people who do it the better. It’s been proven that the vast majority of EV drivers wouldn’t consider going back to petrol, so put the building blocks in place and many drivers become advocates within their networks.

It’s been another bad week, though, for anyone looking for green shoots in EV uptake. Yes, only a select few would have been considering Lamborghini’s electric ultra GT car, but even they won’t have the option for a while, now that the brand has rowed back on its first EV for the foreseeable future (Page 16).

There’s also been a lot of noise about how much money the transition to EVs is costing firms that have gambled on it happening more rapidly. Stellantis was the latest in the headlines with a 20.1bn Euro (£17.6bn) write-down in its results, blamed largely on overestimating the rate of adoption in Europe and the US. What’s obvious is that we need more clear signals and help from our lawmakers that the path to electric is a fixed one. If they really are serious about both the path and the timelines, that is.

There continue to be too many obstacles, mixed messages and negative news stories that give people reasons to postpone moving to cars that in many cases – although obviously not all – would serve them at least as well as petrol-fuelled ones. PAUL BARKER EDITOR’SVIEW “ACHARGEPOINT GRANTISHANDY, BUTEXCLUDING THEHALFOFTHE POPULATIONWHO CANMOSTEASILY MAKETHESWITCH TOANEVJUST SEEMSPETTY” Visit autoexpress.co.uk for all thelatest new carn

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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