Trouble with the software going into Volvo’s next-generation platform is leading to production delays for both it and Polestar. The Swedish brands expect assembly of the Volvo EX90 and the Polestar 3 to begin as much as six months behind schedule.
In a short press release, Volvo said that it needs more time for software development and testing, in order to “ensure a high-quality introduction of the car and to maximize customer benefit from its technology from day 1.”
Volvo said that production of the EX90 is now expected to begin in the first half of 2024, instead of at the end of 2023, as was previously forecast. Meanwhile, the closely related Polestar 3 is expected to start rolling off the assembly line in the first quarter of 2024, instead of in August 2023, as was previously planned, per Autonews.
Read: Polestar 3 And 4 To Launch Within 9 Months Of Each Other
“Polestar was recently informed that additional time for final software development of the new all-electric platform shared by Volvo Cars is needed,” the automaker said in a statement, adding that the delay would affect production goals for 2023.
Polestar now says that it expects to build 60,000-70,000 vehicles in 2023, instead of the 80,000 it had forecast at the start of the year. Lowering its sales estimates will give it the opportunity to “maintain the right balance between the volume that we achieve and what we achieve in terms of margins and price stability,” CEO Thomas Ingenlath told Autonews.
What precisely is causing the software issues that have pushed Volvo to delay the launch of these vehicles has not been made clear by the automaker. However, the EX90 is expected to be a highly advanced vehicle with an “invisible shield” of advanced driver assistance systems, that tend to be quite software heavy.
Volvo is hardly the first automaker to struggle with software. The Volkswagen Group has also had to delay the launch of some vehicles due to software issues that have plagued its next-generation platform.
Although the launch of the Polestar 3 is being delayed, the automaker says that it still expects the Polestar 4 to start production on schedule, in the fourth quarter of 2023. It will be sold in China, initially, and will be available in other markets in early 2024.
