Volvo has announced that all its new models will be electric or hybrid from 2019, in what the company hailed as a ‘historic end’ to internal combustion engine cars.
In a statement the firm added that it aims to have climate-neutral manufacturing operations by 2025.
The Chinese-owned company hopes to have sold 1m electric cars by 2025 around the world but is not completely ending petrol or diesel vehicles as it will continue to manufacture existing models after 2019.
With the average production life of a car estimated at around seven years, this would suggest the company could go fully low emission from around 2025.
‘This is about the customer,’ said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars.
‘People increasingly demand electrified cars, and we want to respond to our customers’ current and future needs.’
Volvo are also set to launch five fully electric cars between 2019 and 2021, two of which will be from Polestar – another brand within the Volvo group.
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. Full details of these models are to be announced at a later date, Volvo said.
Tim Urquhart, principal analyst at IHS Automotive said the overall announcement was ‘clever sort of PR coup - it is a headline grabber’.
‘The announcement is significant, and quite impressive, but only in a small way,’ he added.
Volvo also revealed it will turn Polestar into a new separately branded electric global high-performance car company.
The move also follows tighter restrictions on emissions set by the EU.
Volvo is not the first major car company to move towards electric-based manufacture. Last year Jaguar Land Rover said it expected up to 50% of its range to be electrified by 2020, while Tesla only produce electric cars.
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