Volvo to go electric and hybrid only starting in 2019

[Scrape]

All Volvo car models launched after 2019 will be electric or hybrids, the Chinese-owned company said on Wednesday, making it the first major traditional automaker to set a date for phasing out vehicles powered solely by the internal combustion engine.
The Sweden-based company will continue to produce pure combustion-engine Volvos from models launched before that date, but its move signals the eventual end of nearly a century of Volvos powered solely that way.
While electric and hybrid vehicles are still only a small fraction of new cars sales, they are gaining ground at the premium end of the market, where Volvo operates and where Elon Musk's Tesla Motors has been a pure-play battery carmaker from day one. As technology improves and prices fall, many in the industry expect mass-market adoption to follow.
"This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car," Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson said.

The company, owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group , said five new models set to be launched in 2019 through 2021 — three of them Volvos and two Polestar-branded — would all be fully electric.
"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."
The electric models will be produced at Volvo plants world-wide — it has factories in Europe and China and is building one in the United States — while development costs will be met from within its existing budget, Samuelsson told Reuters.

"This also means we won't be doing other things. We of course will not be developing completely new generations of combustion engines," he said about future investment needs.
Volvo has invested heavily in new models and plants since being bought by Geely from Ford in 2010, establishing a niche in a premium auto market dominated by larger rivals such as Daimler's Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Part of its strategy has also been to embrace emerging technologies that allow higher performance electric vehicles as well as, eventually, self-driving cars.

Only last month, Volvo said it would reshape its Polestar business into a standalone brand, focused on high-performance electric cars aimed at competing with Tesla and the Mercedes AMG division.
Volvo has also said it will build its first fully electric car in China based on its architecture for smaller cars which will be available for sale in 2019 and exported globally.
Still, Volvo is not alone among traditional carmakers in pushing strongly into electrics and plug-ins; or among premium brands in resorting to 48V mild hybrid systems to lower fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from their combustion-engine cars.
Among them, BMW plans to introduce an electric version of its popular 3 series in September to meet the challenge from Tesla, Handelsblatt reported last month.
Volvo has also taken steps towards an eventual listing, raising five billion crowns from Swedish institutional investors through the sale of newly issued preference shares last year, though the company has said no decision on an IPO has been made.
"It is still an option and a question for our owner," Samuelsson said.

Original story here. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/volvo-hybrid-electric-2019-1.4190649

[Scrape]

More from the Volvo Group.

Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, has announced that every Volvo it launches from 2019 will have an electric motor, marking the historic end of cars that only have an internal combustion engine (ICE) and placing electrification at the core of its future business.

The announcement represents one of the most significant moves by any car maker to embrace electrification and highlights how over a century after the invention of the internal combustion engine electrification is paving the way for a new chapter in automotive history.

“This is about the customer,” said Håkan 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 will introduce a portfolio of electrified cars across its model range, embracing fully electric cars, plug in hybrid cars and mild hybrid cars.

It will launch five fully electric cars 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. Full details of these models will be announced at a later date.

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, representing one of the broadest electrified car offerings of any car maker.

This means that there will in future 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,” said Mr Samuelsson. “Volvo Cars has stated that it plans 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.”

The announcement underlines Volvo Cars’ commitment to minimising its environmental impact and making the cities of the future cleaner. Volvo Cars is focused on reducing the carbon emissions of both its products as well as its operations. It aims to have climate neutral manufacturing operations by 2025.

The decision also follows this month’s announcement that Volvo Cars will turn Polestar into a new separately-branded electrified global high performance car company. Thomas Ingenlath, Senior Vice President Design at Volvo Cars, will lead Polestar as Chief Executive Officer.


Original story can be found here. https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/en-gb/media/pressreleases/210058/volvo-cars-to-go-all-electric

[ZR]

Interesting read.

[R3troGT]

I predict that sales will take a big hit

[Scrape]

I wonder though as there is talk about the next Mustang will be a hybrid as well. I am not surprised that this will be the trend as much as I am not a fan of it.

[StAnger]

Wouldn't buy a Volvo anyway...

[Armen]

Just keep in mind that the LaFerrari and Porsche 918 are also hybrids. So is the new NSX.

Hybrid can mean many things and not all of them what we immediately picture when we hear that word.

[RedSN]

Locomotives have been hybrids (diesel-electric) since the 30's.

[WTF]

imo....this is Volvo trying to take Tesla out at the knees

not a bad strategy

Volvo is kinda the almost premium brand that gets left in the dust vs BMW, Benz etc

they're safe....but not sexy

they don't sell a ton of cars but have a pretty good dealer network in North America.....and have a pretty good rep for building quality

I'm not sure where you take a Tesla for service.....you sure as hell don't drive into the Yorkdale store

if I was hardcore electric or hybrid and I wasn't afraid of spending a few bucks (aka Tesla) on a quality piece....I'd probably be giving Volvo a good look

[Uncle Buck]

I'm not sure where you take a Tesla for service

A fellow I used to work with had a Tesla. Claimed it rarely needed service but when it did, Tesla came to you with a loner and then delivered your car back to you after service. Not sure if a second owner would get that service.

[WTF]

Not sure if a second owner would get that service.

was thinking similar

wouldn't surprise me if Tesla's gig is all about the lease.....cause you ain't getting that service when the warranty is done and they need your money to fix the car....unless you like paying through the nose

but that's today's generation.....use it....toss it...make an app so I get it faster

[5.4MarkVIII]

A fellow I used to work with had a Tesla. Claimed it rarely needed service but when it did, Tesla came to you with a loner and then delivered your car back to you after service. Not sure if a second owner would get that service.

My guess is that this will be like their free charge stations. Only free untill they sell enough cars that it's too expensive. Then no longer offer it.

[redo75]

Looks as a lot of gas station real estate is going to be available. Petrol companies stock going down and what will they do??
How are the bad people in the middle east going to get money for weapons???
Bad Volvo.

[ZR]

Just read this.

Volvo has announced that starting in 2019 it will offer only electrified vehicles — full electrics, plug-in hybrids and 48-volt mild hybrids.
One of the main reasons for the proliferation of various EVs has been the passage in the U.S. of very high corporate average fuel economy standards that are considered impossible to meet without a mixture of electrics. And Europe has very strict carbon dioxide regulations that also encourage companies to have EVs in their mix.
But it would appear that Volvo's leaders are willing to bet the farm by using only electrified powertrains.
They are very smart or very dumb. Time will tell how they fare.
Certainly as the only major automaker owned by the Chinese, Volvo has a different take on the world auto market. But even if the company's decision is right, I would guess that it is a decade or two early.
Whether Volvo will be able to survive until the world marketplace comes around to its point of view remains to be seen. But in the meantime, if I was a U.S. dealer I'd be worried about my financial health and well-being.
There will no doubt be a large number of consumers in America who will gravitate to Volvos simply because of what the company is doing with electrified vehicles. But whether that will be enough to keep the doors open and the lights on is a big gamble — a gamble that the company is taking with a lot of employees that don't work for Volvo directly.
It is a fascinating experiment that is being done with others' capital. I fear that it is a bad decision for dealers and suppliers, though only time will tell. Still, perhaps someone had to try it.
Volvo once owned the safety segment. Now it is trying to own the electrified-vehicle position.
We wish them luck.