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."
Source: Reuters
(Score: 3, Touché) by bob_super on Thursday July 06 2017, @12:52AM (5 children)
1.21 GigaWatts for mine.
(Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday July 06 2017, @01:16AM (1 child)
I wish people would forget those movies. I'm nothing like Biff H. Tannen!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @01:39AM
So where is the [fake] news video where you crash your car into a manure truck? Could you can put that youtube link on twitter for us?
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday July 06 2017, @01:38AM (2 children)
Not enough for the new flux capacitor!
And you need a EPA permit for the onboard nuclear fusion reactor :p
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Thursday July 06 2017, @01:44AM (1 child)
> And you need a EPA permit for the onboard nuclear fusion reactor
Maybe under Obama, but now all I need is to attach my coal-fired grill somewhere in there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @08:57AM
No, you still need an EPA permit. It's just that now the requirement is that it produces high enough emissions. :-)