Geely’s Volvo Cars has said every model it launches from 2019 “will have an electric motor” though many of these are likely to be just mild hybrids with braking energy regeneration and a 48 volt starter/alternator.
Between 2019 and 2021, the automaker will launch five new, electrified models including two Polestar all-EV lines.
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There will be no new development of diesel engines beyond 2020, a press conference in Stockholm was told.
Full electric, plug-in hybrid and mild-hybrid cars, built on the CMA architecture, will be offered. The company already offers PHEVs with both petrol and diesel engines. It said around 15% of sales are now PHEVs.
This means Volvo will phase out pure internal combustion engine (ICE) cars though it did not give a timeline. Details of the future models and suppliers for key items such as batteries were also not fortcoming.
“This is about the customer,” said Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, said in a statement. “People increasingly demand electrified cars, and we want to respond to our customers’ current and future needs.
“This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car. [We have] stated that we plan to have sold a total of 1m electrified cars by 2025. When we said it we meant it. This is how we are going to do it.”
Last month, Volvo Cars said it would turn Polestar into a new separately branded electrified global high-performance car company headed by current design chief Thomas Ingenlath.
