We drove Volvo's electric EX60 to Manitoga woodland home
Taking Volvo's new electric EX60 from Manhattan to Russel Wright's modernist Manitoga woodland home in New York, featuring 330-mile range and cabin tech.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Volvo tested its electric EX60 driving from Manhattan to Manitoga in New York
- Interior design draws from nature, featuring Forest Light leaf-projection ambient lighting
- P10 AWD delivers 503 hp, up to 330 miles of range, and 16-minute 10-80% charging
- Manitoga is Russel Wright's historic modernist woodland estate and National Historic Landmark
Volvo organized a media drive with its new all-electric EX60, taking reporters from Manhattan to Manitoga, the woodland home of American industrial designer Russel Wright in Garrison, New York. The journey north led drivers out of the city streets and into the tree-lined roads of the Hudson Valley, glowing with autumn foliage, where the Swedish automaker showcased the design philosophy behind its latest electric SUV.
The EX60 translates the familiar proportions of Volvo's popular XC60 model into a fully electric architecture. Its low front end and gently sloping roofline achieve a drag coefficient of just 0.26, while the vehicle sits atop the company's new SPA3 electric platform.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
For the U.S. market, the P10 AWD variant delivers 503 horsepower alongside an EPA-estimated range of up to 330 miles, with DC fast charging from 10 to 80 percent taking as little as 16 minutes under optimal conditions. Inside, the cabin houses a 15-inch curved OLED center display integrated with Google Gemini, combining tactile finishes and natural textures to soften the digital interface.
Upon arriving at Manitoga, the team met Sara Erichsen Susnjar, Volvo Cars' Senior Color & Material Design Manager with twenty years of tenure at the company. Susnjar discussed the extensive process behind developing new automotive finishes, noting that creating a paint option can require an entire year of evaluation outdoors.
"We have to check all the light,"
Sara Erichsen Susnjar
Pairing a modern electric vehicle test drive with a mid-century modernist woodland estate highlights a growing automotive trend of merging industrial innovation with organic inspiration. By contrasting Wright's handcrafted natural elements with Volvo's digital nature-themed cabin features, the experience emphasizes how automakers strive to evoke outdoor tranquility inside enclosed technological spaces.
During the mid-twentieth century, Wright spent decades transforming a former quarry into a 75-acre woodland estate, completing Dragon Rock with architect David Leavitt in 1961. The home incorporates experimental handmade details, from boulders extending into rooms to pine needles pressed into green plaster walls. Today, Manitoga operates as a National Historic Landmark designated in 2006, preserved by the nonprofit Russel Wright Design Center.
One of the EX60's distinctive cabin highlights is its Forest Light ambient lighting system, projecting leaf patterns onto the rear seats and center console. Susnjar explained that the team aimed to embed aspects of nature directly into the vehicle experience. While daytime demonstrations offered only a partial view of an effect optimized for darkness, Wright's home similarly utilized expansive glass walls to blend interior living spaces seamlessly with the surrounding seasonal woodland.
Source: designboom
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