Volvo Cars to end production of diesel engine cars by early 2024
- Last month, 33% of Volvo Car's sales figures came from fully-electric or hybrid models.
Volvo Cars is looking to end the production of its remaining diesel models by early 2024 as it has embarked on a journey towards becoming an all-electric carmaker by 2030. The last diesel-powered Volvo car will have been built in a few months from now, making the Swedish company one of the first legacy car makers to take this step.
Volvo Cars, which in majority is owned by China's Geely, had sold mostly diesel cars in Europe as recently as 2019, in 2022 these cars made up just 8.9% of the company's sales in the region. Last month, 33% of Volvo's sales were fully-electric or hybrid models. Though it is not clear how many of the remaining 67% combustion-engine models sold were diesel and how many ran on petrol.
Watch: Volvo C40 Recharge review: Packs a punch with more range
As automakers and governments the world over are looking for sustainable mobility options, diesel engines might not live on forever. Sales of diesel models have declined rapidly in Europe since Volkswagen's emission-cheating scandal and carmakers have been gradually reducing the number of diesel models available in their model line-ups. While diesel vehicles comprised more than 50% of Europe's new car sales in 2015, it accounted for just over 14% of sales in July.
The Indian government too has been time and again encouraging OEMs and commuters to adopt sustainable modes of mobility with the major focus on electric vehicles. Volvo Cars currently sells two purely electric models in the country - C40 Recharge and XC40 Recharge. With India being its key market, the company is betting big on these two models to pave its path for electric models here and the world over.
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Volvo wants to be an all-electric car company by 2030, and it believes the target can be achieved much earlier in India. The XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge would play a key role in that strategy. Volvo has already tasted success in India with the XC40 Recharge since its launch as the country's most affordable luxury electric SUV. Now, the company is hoping the newly introduced C40 Recharge too would replicate that performance.