Volvo, a Swedish car manufacturer, announced last Wednesday that the 2019 models they plan on releasing will be powered by hybrid or fully electric engines. This implies that the company is steering to a full abandonment of internal combustion engines for the following years.
The car manufacturer clarified that the older models they have already launched will continue their production. Take note, they will still have traditional engines. However, the future line-ups of the company will be composed of environmental-friendly vehicles. This will make Volvo one of the first major vehicle manufacturers to announce a specific date for the cessation of the production of combustion engine-only cars.
According to the CEO and president of Volvo, Håkan Samuelsson, this move is about their customers. In a statement released earlier this month, the company said they know that people are demanding electric cars. Since there is a demand for them and they are better for the environment, they will now commit to electrification. Volvo wants to respond to its customers' future and current needs. In the near future, you will be able to pick and choose an electric Volvo if you wish.
Between the years 2019 and 2021, Volvo will launch at least five cars that will be fully electric. From the five, three will be branded Volvos. The other two are planned to be for the Polestar wing of Volvo, which means they are set to be high-performance vehicles. Volvo did not give additional details on its upcoming cars, which are intended to compete with the existing models of Tesla directly.
In recent years, more and more automakers have become key supporters of the movement, anti-climate change. As a matter of fact, most companies in the car industry have released statements condemning the decision of Pres. Donald Trump to withdraw the country from the Paris agreement on climate change.
"We believe that climate change will put all of our lives in peril and that it is real. We remain committed to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. This applies to our facilities and vehicles," said Ford Motor Co.
"Our deep commitment to sustainability can be considered as the reason why we have invested heavily on the electrification of our cars. We plan to add 13 electrified vehicles to the company's lineup."
In 2010, Volvo was bought by Geely, a Chinese auto company. China has been quick in adopting electric cars. The country is the second largest economy in the world and it is plagued by terrible air pollution. Now, it wants at least 5 million electric vehicles on its roads in 3 years. According to reports released by the University of Duisburg-Essen, more than 50% of the sold electric cars are in China.
Also, Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, attended the meetings of Trump's economic advisory council. This was together with other chief executives in the country. As soon as Trump announced the withdrawal of the country from the climate accord, he decided to quit the council.
Everybody should be moving towards environmental-friendly options, and no one can deny that. Volvo is doing a drastic change in it’s company by committing to electrification, but it was a change that could not be postponed anymore. It is expected that other auto companies follow the lead and also implement hybrids or fully electric cars on the lineup in the near future.
