Tesla has been plaguing auto news headlines even though there are some who still consider them a tech company. Regardless, the surge in stocks has catapulted the American company to new heights with known automakers expected to map out something to stay abreast.

Now, it appears at least one brand is up to the challenge. Volvo, a company, known for emphasizing safety and the environment, plans to give Tesla a run for its money. In fact, the Chinese-owned Swedish brand has set a lofty goal of producing 50-percent of their global sales from fully electric cars by 2025, Forbes.com reported.

If their sales of 700,000 in 2019 is to be used as a basis, this means that Volvo is aiming to deliver roughly 350,000 cars. Without question, that is a big mark to aim for. However, it also indicates that Volvo intends to become a major player in the electric vehicle segment.

Embarking on an electric vehicle dream is nothing new for Volvo. Last year, they released the XC40 Recharge - their initial entry into the pure-EV market. It is the company's first-ever fully electric car and the first model for the Recharge sub-brand.

Looking ahead, Volvo has five full-electric vehicles they plan to release in 2019 and 2021. Three of the cars will be under the Volvo brand, while the two others will come from the Polestar-branded performance cars. Plug-in hybrid and mild-hybrid options for all the models will be offered. On whether they can achieve that 350,000 unit sales, critics feel that it would be a tall order for Volvo, considering they have not sold its first battery-electric vehicle yet.

Despite the daunting task ahead, the head of the Volvo Car Group remains optimistic. Anderson Gustaffson believes that the company has established its mark emphasizing safety, and adding an environmental awareness twist aligns everything.

"Everyone knows that we invented the [three-point] safety belt and everyone talks about that and that we gave it for free to our competitors because we need to save lives," he said.

Back in November, Volvo admitted that Tesla is far ahead of everyone else in terms of electric efficiency, electrek.com reported. Aware of that, the Director of development for Polestar admitted that they are lagging behind Tesla when it comes to developing their own technology. But with the bold forecast made, the Volvo Car Group seems determined to catch up and face the risks tied up to it in the next five years.