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 CO2 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 5 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.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volvocars-geely-electric-idUSKBN19Q0BJ
[url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cars/article-4666422/Geelys-Volvo-electric-new-models-2019.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_search_srp_content%3BHwJ91CXlTuK5upuyq3zHfg%3D%3D[/url]
#copied

I can't wait till tomorrow comes!

The big question is: what is Nigeria doing or planning to mitigate the shock of this innovation on her economy and as well key in to make it useful in Nigeria?

Senate is reading as well

Hehehh

Nigeria NO LIGHT

When they stop buying our fuel

Aboki face their farms

Then let's see if aboki will agree for us to use their agriculture money to develop niger delta

E no go sell for Nigeria. You will have to use generator to charge it

Learnt driving on my own (#IGreeDie ) with their 240 ,GL fuel injector spec (long nose)

Volvo!!! I believe you guys, Just the way modern ships are now built with diesel-electric engines for main ship propulsion.

It is very good to use but the electrical works involved is the big challenge, a regular kazeem would condemn your car in 20mins in the name of rewire.

Yeah

Nice Step To Using Clean Energy

Ghen ghen action film

Check my signature for 2017/2018 club Jerseys and Confederation Cup countries jersey

2019? I can't wait! I need to get one

So wetin made we do for Nigeria

..lol they're gradually phasing out the sikiru's ...well this is a good biz idea for the auto mechanics....if they wanna remain relevant in the foreseeable future, they'll need to learn how to work on hybrid or electrical cars

But I doubt such cars ( purely electrical) will sell in naija....

What about water?

What will Nigerians use in powering the car? BEDEC or Gen? I think the latter is more reliable.

psucc:
I can't wait till tomorrow comes!

The big question is: what is Nigeria doing or planning to mitigate the shock of this innovation on her economy and as well key in to make it useful in Nigeria?

The wicked people will not allow such development to erode their relevance. Remember David mark when he said cellphone is for only rich people

Good...i wan make oyel over flow for ss...

Nigeria no dey like better thing

Innosson motors pls wake up. day Don break. when are we expecting Nigerian made?

May God help us

Nigerian economy will soon collapse with all these breakthrough in technology that will render oil less relevant

Naijabams:
Hehehh

Nigeria is about to get into trouble, so this means our oil in niger delta is about to be useless, thank God because the end of crude oil that is causing troble is coming to an end, so afonja coco and coffee is about to heat the market again.

Dear Lord

I have read it

let me drive it


AMEN

A welcome development. Nigeria government should get their act's together in order not to suffers more economic lost.

donchrisville:
..lol they're gradually phasing out the sikiru's ...well this is a good biz idea for the auto mechanics....if they wanna remain relevant in the foreseeable future, they'll need to learn how to work on hybrid or electrical cars

But I doubt such cars ( purely electrical) will sell in naija....

I've heard of solar/ fuel but the fuel doesn't power the engine it starts up something like a generator that charges the solar battery.

So what is the south east going to contribute to the economy when tha era of crude oil is over, as usual nothing, the west has cash crops such as cocoa, the north food crops, the south south might soon become irrelevant and the south east always irrelevant.

Someone will blame buari for this

Better. Anytime a discussion comes up on how to split Nigeria, you'd hear someone saying let's forget our differences and focus on the things that binds us. Now that factor that binds us, Petroleum is about to be useless, watch how the country would dissolve quickly like sugar in hot water

bjt:
E no go sell for Nigeria. You will have to use generator to charge it

LOL.. How many people dey even use volvo here sef, they want to intimated Niger delta people

funmisticqueen:
So what is the south east going to contribute to the economy when tha era of crude oil is over, as usual nothing, the west has cash crops such as cocoa, the north food crops, the south south might soon become irrelevant and the south east always irrelevant.

Go back to your history book.