Currently reading: Volvo's Tesla rival to spearhead electrified future

Swedish firm confirms plan to launch a full-electric mid-sized car with 325-mile range by 2019 - and to sell plug-in versions of all models

Volvo will launch a mid-size battery-electric car with a range of around 325 miles by 2019.

The Tesla rival, which is likely to be an SUV rather than saloon, will be a showcase for Volvo's electrical know-how, with the firm also pledging to launch a plug-in hybrid version of every new model it launches in the next five years.

Volvo chiefs say the Tesla rival will be “a long-range car, offering premium performance and rapid charging”.

According to R&D chief Peter Mertens, the commitment to plug-in models is a result of the technology "offering customers the best combination of efficiency, range and convenience."

Volvo says its historic move follows improvements in battery technology, falling costs and wide public acceptance of electric cars. "The time has come for electric cars to cease being a niche technology and enter the mainstream," said Volvo president and CEO, Hakan Samuelsson. "We are confident that by 2020, 10% of Volvo's global sales will be electrified cars."

Volvo sees the years 2020-25 as the “period of critical acceptance” for electrified cars. The company draws an comparison between its push towards safety - it wants to eliminate deaths via accidents in its road cars by the year 2020 - and this new determination to push electrification.

The programme will start with the introduction of plug-in electric versions of Volvo's larger cars, the 60-series and 90-series models that already utilise the company's new large Scalable Platform Architecture (SPA), which was designed from the outset for electrification. The first of these models, the Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine all-wheel drive, has already been launched in Sweden, and will come to the UK next January.

The XC90 T8  delivers more than 407bhp and has a pure electric range of around 25 miles, while - according to current statutory NEDC test cycle - emitting just 49g/km CO2 and returning fuel consumption well over 100mpg. There will also be a plug-in version of the forthcoming Volvo S90 large saloon.

Volvo is also planning to launch a front-wheel drive Twin Engine powertrain set-up, so that plug-in hybrids which don't need it, need not have the complexity and weight disadvantages of four-wheel drive. Later, an "entirely new" range of 40-series Volvos, using the Geely-Volvo Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform, will hit the market, all offering plug-in hybrid versions.

The CMA platform, which comes on stream from 2017, is critical to Volvo's plan to raise its sales to 800,000 cars a year by 2020, and to replace every model in its range over the next four years. Mertens says the flexibility of CMA will allow the company to offer buyers "the same type of premium engineering benefits as owners of larger cars".

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Steve Cropley

Steve Cropley Autocar
Title: Editor-in-chief

Steve Cropley is the oldest of Autocar’s editorial team, or the most experienced if you want to be polite about it. He joined over 30 years ago, and has driven many cars and interviewed many people in half a century in the business. 

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winniethewoo 15 October 2015

I didn't realise that

I didn't realise that companies like Tesla and Volvo existed for altruistic purposes, so thanks for that.
winniethewoo 15 October 2015

I should also say that all

I should also say that all carmakers are cognisant of the fact the eventual aim is zero carbon. 0g/km. This excludes ICE engines in any form. They don't have any kind of future except perhaps in exotic vehicles like Ferrari's.
winniethewoo 15 October 2015

I dont see Volvo taking credit for anything...

Both of you are wrong. Its EU emissions regs. Electrification has to be part of the strategy because ICE cars are technologically incapable of meeting the CO2 emissions standards. By 2021 the whole fleet on average has to emit 95g/km. They will wait and see what happens before setting 2025 regs. Basically if the technology exists then to get emissions down way below this, say 49g/km with reasonable financial outlay, they are going to set the standards to this. I reckon companies like Mazda who are betting on more efficient ICE engines to meet future targets will come acropper.

The next leaf hitting 200 miles, the Tesla model 3, what Elon Musk says all confirm what Volvo are saying in this article. That electrification will come into play as a seriously competitive technology in the next 3 years. Tesla, Volvo, et all arent the first originators of any of these technologies. Its just Tesla had the vision to package it and bring it to market faster than anyone else.

xxxx 15 October 2015

Law forces no one to buy these cars

winniethewoo wrote:

Its EU emissions regs. ... ... Tesla, Volvo, et all arent the first originators of any of these technologies.

No one buys a Tesla, Leaf or i3 because of the Law and no one said Telsa were the originators of these technologies

winniethewoo 15 October 2015

xxxx wrote: winniethewoo

xxxx wrote:
winniethewoo wrote:

Its EU emissions regs. ... ... Tesla, Volvo, et all arent the first originators of any of these technologies.

No one buys a Tesla, Leaf or i3 because of the Law and no one said Telsa were the originators of these technologies

You are right! Why won't you tell me where your salon is?