The Swedish car manufacturer is creating Volvo’s first electric car and expanding its variety of plug-in hybrid automobiles. The producer says that now it is the perfect time for ecological cars after the immense scandal of Volkswagen’s falsified diesel-emissions.
The giant automaker will increase its hybrid car strategy to a series of more compact 40-series automobiles, such as the V40, a model that will be manufactured on a new system at the beginning of 2017. This new line of green cars will eventually generate a full-electric car by 2019, as the car maker stated in an official announcement.
Volvo’s specialists believe that now it is the perfect time for electrified vehicles to stop being an exotic technological curiosity and get into the popular use of drivers all over the world, the technicians are predicting that, in around two years, almost 10% of Volvo’s total worldwide revenue will be generated by electrified vehicles.
The company’s first attempt in this electrification process was the release of its diesel hybrid model of the V60 wagon more than three years ago. The producer now has another gasoline-powered hybrid based on the XC90 SUV ready to be sold in Europe and Volvo will provide the same features for its S90 model that is planned for launch at the beginning of the next year.
As media sources have previously reported, Volvo says that its new electrical twin engine works great for 20 miles of accelerated driving on the roughest terrains. The car will provide a complete power of 300 HP with a torque of over 450 lb-ft, while generating just 50 grams/km of C02. The company added that its future car would give the best efficiency and gas mileage in the electric category.
The car maker is currently concentrating most of its efforts on electric vehicles after diesel automobiles lost much of their popularity. This is an unfortunate effect of the Volkswagen scandal when the German company had to admit that it purposely circumvented legal rules on diesel fuel pollutants.
This sudden change of pace could help Volvo to take a leading position as it goes against major car manufacturers, like Mercedes, Audi and BMW, in its attempt to increase yearly sales with 50% to over 750,000 automobiles by 2020.
With just a few days before it was known that Volkswagen had falsified its diesel-emissions figures in the United States, many Volvo professionals said that diesel-fueled vehicles were benefiting from unfair advantages in several European countries.
Many specialists in the auto industry recognize that is needed a radical move away from diesel engines and car dealers seems to agree with them. As they notice this phenomenon occurring, Volvo’s experts are coming with substitutes for diesel engines, for instance a three-cylinder system along with electrified engines, which they believe it is the best solution in the long run.
Car experts added that Volvo predicts that diesel engines will play a main part in Europe’s power train trend for another five years before there is a decrease in overall sales.
images source: Greenprophet