The car manufacturer Volvo from Sweden has cashed in on its goal of only producing fully electric cars by 2030. The company, which belongs to the Chinese group Geely, has now revised its target slightly downwards – to “90 to 100 percent”, as it announced on Wednesday. Up to 10 percent of new cars could also be hybrid models “if necessary”. Volvo cited the lack of expansion of the charging infrastructure in some markets as the main reason. The manager magazine had already reported exclusively in June
that the combustion engine at Volvo is wobbling.
“Complete electrification remains the main pillar of Volvo Cars’ product strategy,” the company assured. However, due to changing market conditions and customer demand, this cannot be implemented by 2030. “We are firmly convinced that our future is electric,” affirmed the Volvo boss Jim Rowan (59). “It is clear, however, that the transition to electrification will not be linear.” Customers and markets moved at different speeds.
The car manufacturer based in the western Swedish port city of Gothenburg is not alone: demand for electric cars has also slowed among other major car manufacturers, partly due to a lack of inexpensive models and the slow expansion of the charging network.
Volvo currently has five purely electric models on offer, with five more in development. By 2025, electric cars are expected to account for 50 to 60 percent of sales. In the second quarter of this year the share was 26 percent; Including hybrid cars, it was 48 percent. Shares in Volvo fell as much as 7.5 percent in the afternoon, after falling 4 percent before the reduced targets were announced.
The growing demand for hybrid cars has led to a change in strategy in an industry that had originally intended to phase out hybrid vehicles in favor of pure electric vehicles. Toyota, one of the slowest major automakers in developing Electric cars, continues to rely heavily on hybrids with a larger number of models. The French automobile manufacturer Renault stated that it would continue to bring hybrid models to market.
Volkswagen postponed the launch of new electric models in July
and screwed At the end of August, it backed off its plans for battery cell factories.