Gothenburg, Sweden - Volvo is jumping onto the anti-diesel bandwagon, the Swedish carmaker announcing that it plans to completely eliminate diesel engines from its line-up.
The company has just announced that its new S60 sedan will be the first such model to be produced without a single diesel offering in the range, and that rule will also apply to every “all-new” Volvo model launched after 2019. However, this likely means that recently launched models such as the XC40 will be spared from the diesel cull for at least the next few years.
Diesel engines have faced much controversy ever since the so-called ‘dieselgate’ scandal that rocked Volkswagen in 2015, and since then numerous diesel models from various manufacturers have been found to produce excessive NOx emissions.
Petrol power still here, for now
Volvo says this move highlights its “commitment to a long-term future beyond the traditional combustion engine,” although petrol power is not being given up on just yet as future models will still offer a choice between ‘mild hybrid’ petrol, plug-in hybrid petrol and full electric power.
That said, even petrol engines will eventually be phased out, with Volvo referring to the hybrid models as a “transitional” stepping stone on the road to full electrification.
But this is not going to happen overnight, as Volvo expects fully-electric cars to account for just 50 percent of its global sales by 2025 and even that estimation is perhaps a bit ambitious.
The S60 will be the last Volvo to launch with conventional, non-hybridised petrol engines as the mild-hybrid derivatives are only expected to come on stream in 2019.
It’s a brave new world indeed.