Volvo Cars is implementing plans to stop offering diesel engines in its future vehicles.
The company announced this week the new Volvo S60 sedan – to be launched later this spring – will be the first Volvo to be produced without a diesel engine. The decision to eliminate a diesel engine on a model that will be sold worldwide highlights Volvo Cars’ “commitment to a long-term future beyond the traditional combustion engine,” the company said.
“Our future is electric and we will no longer develop a new generation of diesel engines,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars.
“We will phase out cars with only an internal combustion engine, with petrol hybrid versions as a transitional option as we move towards full electrification. The new S60 represents the next step in that commitment,” he said.
(Volvo aims for half of sales to be EV by 2025. Click Here for the story.)
Last month, Volvo Cars reinforced its electrification strategy, by stating that it aims for fully electric cars to make up 50% of its global sales by 2025. The announcement was made at the 2018 Beijing Auto Show, positioning it as a powerful player in China, the world’s leading market for electrified cars.
Other manufacturers are also backing away from using diesel engines in passenger. Toyota and Nissan are planning to end the sales of diesel-powered automobiles in Europe.
All new Volvo models launched from 2019 will be available as either a mild petrol hybrid, plug-in petrol hybrid or battery electric vehicle. This is the most comprehensive electrification strategy in the car industry and Volvo Cars was the first traditional car maker to commit to all-out electrification in July 2017.
(Click Here for details about Volvo’s hitting Sweden’s streets with an all-new electric truck.)
The new S60, a premium midsize sports sedan, is based on Volvo’s in-house developed Scalable Product Architecture, which also underpins the company’s award-winning new 90 Series and 60 Series cars. The S60’s estate sibling, the V60, was launched earlier this year in Stockholm.
The new S60 will initially be available with a range of four-cylinder Drive-E gasoline engines as well as with two gasoline plug-in hybrid versions. Mild hybrid versions will follow next year.
(Volvo XC60 lands honors as World Car of the Year. Click Here for the story.)
Production of the new S60 will start this fall at Volvo Cars’ new manufacturing facility outside Charleston, South Carolina. The Charleston plant will be the only manufacturing location for the new S60, meaning American-built S60s will be sold in the U.S.market as well as overseas through exports.
It begins to sound like Bosche’s new system that drops either gas or diesel emissions to a fraction of even the 2025 targets, isn’t generating much interest even though engine costs would hardly rise. One thing I’ve seen little about is dealing with millions of old battery packs and their heavy metal content. I suspect the change over isn’t going to be nearly as smooth as is envisioned, especially in areas with little concentration of population, and home electric service with tiered cost structures penalizing heavier usage.