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French Media AgencyMarch 03, 2021 10:10:11 AM IS
Chinese-owned Swedish automaker Volvo said Tuesday that it will produce only electric vehicles by 2030 and sell them all exclusively online.
Inspired and directly challenged by Elon Musk’s pioneering Tesla brand, Volvo and others plan to ditch fossil fuel vehicles in the next few years as demand for zero-emission cars increases and governments push companies to cut back. contamination.
Indian-owned Jaguar said last month it would produce only electric vehicles starting in 2025, while US auto giant Ford said its goal would be to have a fully electric fleet in Europe by 2030.
“The company only intends to sell fully electric cars and phase out any cars from its global internal combustion engine portfolio, including hybrids,” Volvo said in a statement.
The XC40 Recharge was Volvo’s first fully electric model. Image: Volvo
The company said that half of its cars should be electric by 2025, and that half of the sales will be made online by then.
Geely Holding of China bought a Volvo Cars in 2010 from Ford and has since helped Ford enjoy a rebirth as a manufacturer of high-quality vehicles.
However, last month, Geely Auto said it would not go ahead with a planned merger with Volvo, but that the two companies would strengthen their collaboration on electric vehicles.
Volvo unveiled its second fully electric vehicle, the C40 SUV, on Tuesday and is preparing a smaller model especially suited to European road conditions.
The company says its move to online sales will provide more transparency about pricing and options for its customers.
“If you ask people, it’s quite irritating that you don’t have a clear idea of the price,” company chief Hakan Samuelsson told AFP.
“The buying process seems quite complicated today, it should be easier and more transparent,” he said.
“We are also simplifying the menu. It has many options. We will introduce a kind of ‘dish of the day’ but we will also present good combinations and people can choose between them.”
Other companies, including Volkswagen, Fiat and Renault, are testing online sales, fueled by the coronavirus pandemic.
Faster customer changes
Volvo’s commercial director Lex Kerssemakers said the company has already had success with its “Care by Volvo” platform, which is based on short leases for customers who can then change their model more frequently.
In particular, the platform has attracted younger customers, some 10 years younger than Volvo’s traditional base of the low 50s, Kerssemakers said.
With a slogan of “Modern way to rent a car”, Volvo aims to double sales by 2025 to 1.2 million, and hybrids will help pave the way for the transition to fully electric vehicles, he added.
Volvo proved resilient to the coronavirus crisis last year, limiting the drop in sales to just six percent globally, helped by strong markets in China and North America that offset a sharp slowdown in Europe.
Hybrid car sales performed well thanks to government support for more environmentally friendly vehicles.
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