Volvo Is Officially Ending Production Of Diesel Cars

Swedish carmaker Volvo has officially discontinued diesel-engine cars, marking an acceleration in its drive to become an all-electric brand by 2030. An XC90 SUV rolled off the assembly line at Volvo's Torslanda plant in Sweden on Tuesday night, the last diesel car the company will produce, but will still produce cars with gasoline engines until 2030, when only electric cars will be produced. It also marks the end of Volvo's 45-year association with diesel engines and makes it the first major traditional carmaker to abandon diesel power entirely.

Volvo's decision to end diesel locomotives is also an important step in its rapid transformation, considering that the majority of Volvo's European sales in 2019 were diesel cars, and in 2008, the diesel version of the XC90 model accounted for 95% of total sales.

"We are very confident that we can provide very good customer service even without diesel cars," said Erik Severinson, Volvo Cars' executive in charge of new vehicles and operational strategy. Severinson said that while Volvo Cars will continue to support its diesel customers and provide spare parts, it will not slow down the development of electric vehicles because there is still more room for growth of the technology in the long term. "We believe that our customers are seeing the same shift to green transport as we are," he said.

Volvo plans to electrify its entire range of vehicles by 2030, and its factories will be retrofitted to accommodate the production of electric vehicles and battery packs. As early as last year's New York Climate Week event, Volvo announced that it would stop the production of diesel powertrains in 2024.

Volvo said: "For many years, our diesel engines have stood for reliability and efficiency, they have made a great contribution to us over the past decades, and the success of diesel vehicles is one of the cornerstones of Volvo's transformation into a luxury brand." Just five years ago, diesel engines were still the power source on which Volvo, and most carmakers, depended. In 2019, most of the cars we sold in Europe were diesel, and electric cars were still in their infancy. We firmly believe that moving to pure electric drive is the right path, and we are committed to doing so."