Volvo plans to sell only electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030, in an ambitious bid following increasingly-high demand for low-emissions vehicles in the auto market.
As reported by Bloomberg, the Chinese-owned Swedish brand plans to unveil a line of new EVs, including the Volvo C40 Recharge announced Tuesday. In the same ambitious bid, the company also announced that its upcoming EVs will only be available for sale online, as shared in a statement.
The move to online-only sales is a sales funnel Tesla owners have long become familiar with, moving away from the old dealership model.
Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson said in an interview, “Going electric will strengthen our brand, it means going into a growing segment.” Samuelsson continued, “Combustion cars are a shrinking segment.”
Today: Volvo Cars all electric by 2030
Feb: Porsche 80% electric by 2030
Feb: Jaguar all electric by 2025
Feb: Ford Europe all electric by 2030
Jan: Audi all electric by 2030
Jan: GM all electric by 2035
Nov 20: Bentley all electric by 2030EVs to outsell gas cars by 2030#news pic.twitter.com/mXQYyr1GXX
— Assaad Razzouk (@AssaadRazzouk) March 2, 2021
The news comes not long after similar announcements made by luxury brands like Jaguar Land Rover, General Motors, and Volkswagen, alongside huge global sales numbers for all-electric brand Tesla, as well as similar trends from EV lines NIO and Wuling in China. It’s safe to say that the world is going electric, and it could spell the end for luxury brands that don’t embrace an EV future.
The ambitious online-only plan from Volvo also signals a move to digital interfaces over sales through dealerships, amidst an ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, and just days following a merger plan between Volvo and Geely, each of which is owned by parent company Zhejiang Geely Holding Company.
In any case, even as auto markets in North America and Asia work to catch up to those in Europe, Volvo has poised itself well for an increasingly electric future, especially if it can keep to its plans of EV only by 2030.
