In one of the most significant moves by any car maker embracing electrification, Volvo Cars has announced that every Volvo it launches from 2019 will have an electric motor – effectively placing electrification at the core of its future business and marking the end of cars that only have an internal combustion engine (ICE).
“This is about the customer,” says Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive. “People increasingly demand electrified cars, and we want to respond to our customers’ current and future needs. You can now pick and choose whichever electrified Volvo you wish.”
Volvo Cars says it will introduce a portfolio of electrified cars across its model range, embracing fully electric cars, plug in hybrid cars and mild hybrid cars.
The car maker will launch five fully electric vehicles between 2019 and 2021 – three of which will be Volvo models and two of which will be high-performance electrified cars from Polestar, Volvo Cars’ performance car arm.
As reported, these five cars will be supplemented by a range of petrol and diesel plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid 48 V options on all models, representing one of the broadest electrified car offerings.
Put simply, this means that, looking ahead, there will be no Volvo cars without an electric motor, as pure ICE cars are gradually phased out and replaced by ICE cars that are enhanced with electrified options.
“This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car,” says Samuelsson. “Volvo Cars has stated that it plans 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 decision also follows this month’s announcement, as previously reported, that Volvo Cars will turn Polestar into a new separately branded electrified global high-performance car company. Thomas Ingenlath, senior vice president of design at Volvo Cars, will lead Polestar as CEO.
Photo and video courtesy of Volvo Cars.
This is really good news, but let’s hope this is real and not just some press releases because Tesla is launching the Model 3 this month. We have heard a lot of promises from others, but it looks like it is going to be more than a few years before we see anything on the road.
