Volvo To Sell Only Electric Cars By 2030, Starting With Its New C40 Recharge SUV
Chinese-owned Swedish automotive brand Volvo Cars is planning to offer only electric-powered vehicles by the end of the decade, and plans to close all of its showrooms and sell its vehicle only online.
Volvo said Wednesday that the plan is part of its strategy to become a zero-emission company by 2030. The plan is part of an accelerating trend within the automotive industry amid growing pressures and criticism of their contribution to the current climate crisis.
Volvo said that it will have half of its car sales be all-electric vehicles by 2025. The other half of the vehicles will be hybrid-electric vehicles. This essentially means that Volvo will no longer be selling fully fossil-fueled cars just four years from now.
"There is no long-term future for cars with an internal combustion engine. [The plan is] to meet the expectations of our customers and be a part of the solution when it comes to fighting climate change," Volvo's chief technology officer, Henrik Green, said in a statement.
Volvo's plan is currently one of the most aggressive ones ever announced. It is also an ambitious target for a company that has only released one fully electric vehicle model. Volvo recently unveiled its new small electric SUV, the Volvo C40 Recharge. The vehicle is largely the same as its XC40 model, with the exception of an electric motor instead of a gasoline power train.
Apart from getting rid of its fossil fuel-powered lineup, Volvo said that it will also be heavily investing in its online presence. The company said that it plans to "radically reduce" the complexity of its product line and be completely transparent.
Volvo plans to follow in Tesla's footsteps and only sell its cars online. Volvo said that it will still retain some of its dealerships, which will only handle deliveries and after-sales services.
The announcement comes just a few days after Volvo's parent company, Geely, said that it is scrapping its merger plans. Geely said that it will let Volvo retain its corporate structure but both companies will be working together on their mutual electrification.