Premium Car manufacturer Volvo to go all electric with its entire range of models will be the first company to do so. Swedish Company owned by China’s Geely says that every car in its range will have an electric powertrain by 2019.
Volvo plans to have every car in its range to be electrified and plans of launching five fully electric models between 2019 – 2021. Two of these new models will be part of Polestar high-performance sub-brand, which Volvo plans to revive.
The company says the announcement marks “the historic end of cars powered by petrol and diesel and places electrification at a core of its future business”. Volvo was previously owned by Ford and was bought over by China’s Geely in 2010 for USD $1.8 billion.
“People increasingly demand electrified cars and we want to respond to our customers’ current and future needs”, says Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive.
Recently Honda announced its joint venture with Hitachi Automated Systems(HAS) to produce electric cars which would constitute two-thirds of its total production line.
“These five cars will be supplemented by a range of petrol and diesel plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid 48-volt options on all models,” Volvo said. “This means that there will in future be no Volvo cars without an electric motor.”
“This announcement marks the end of the sole combustion engine-powered car,” said Mr. Samuelsson. “We have said we plan to have sold a total of 1 million electrified cars by 2025. When we said it we meant it. This is how we are going to do it.”
The Gothenburg-based company will continue to produce pure combustion-engine Volvos from models launched before that date but said it would introduce cars across its model line-up that ranged from fully electric cars to plug-in hybrids.
Volvo has invested heavily in new models and plants since being bought by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group from Ford Motor Co. in 2010, establishing a niche in a premium auto market dominated by larger rivals such as Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Will Volvo’s new shift into green car segment for all models, place them above the rest in the Auto industry. Let us know in comments below if you will buy an electric vehicle in near future.
