Did Volvo just seal the combustion engine s fate? CBS News
Did Volvo just seal the combustion engine’s fate?
Electrical cars are converting the auto industry much in the same way these juiced-up vehicles drive: You don’t hear them coming — until abruptly they’re by you.
Volvo’s ambitious plan to suggest electrified engines across its entire fleet highlights just how swift traditional carmakers are plugging in, even as sales of all-electric and hybrid vehicles in the U.S. remain fairly modest. But with Tesla (TSLA) recently cruising by Ford (F) and nip-and-tuck with General Motors (GM) as America’s largest automaker by market value, the stodgy combustion engine is demonstrating its age.
If you needed a blaring highway billboard that the venerable pistons-valves-gasoline era is waning, Volvo elevated it for all to see on Wednesday, with its announcement that beginning in 2019, its utter lineup will have some kind of electrified motor.
Volvo plans to launch five fully electrical cars inbetween two thousand nineteen and 2021, three of which will be sold under the Volvo brand and two high-performance models to be marketed under the company’s luxury Polestar brand. Extra details about the vehicles will be announced at a later date.
Norway shoves for an electrified car revolution
The automaker also plans to provide a range of gasoline and diesel plug-in hybrids and mild hybrids, which Volvo said would be one of the “broadest electrified car offerings of any carmaker.” The Swedish automaker, which was acquired by China’s Geely Holding Group in 2010, has been developing electrified vehicles for the past few years, such as a variant of its C30 hatchback and a hybrid-diesel version of its V60 station wagon.
Volvo sold a record 534,332 vehicles last year, and it expects to sell one million electrified vehicles in less than a decade.
“Frankly, it costs a lot of money to develop an electrical vehicle,” said Brett Smith of the Center for Automotive Research. “It’s technology they’re developing from scrape, which means a entire lot of R&D investment.”
Other automakers are increasingly weaning themselves off gasoline-powered engines.
Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler on Wednesday also announced plans to invest five billion Chinese renminbi ($740 million) in a battery plant in China that it will run with China-based BAIC. The playmates plan to sell electrified vehicles under the Mercedes brand name by 2020.
Green vehicle request is already thriving in China. Forecasts are calling for sales of 580,000 units in 2017, an increase of fifty eight percent from 2016, even however the Chinese government eased up on subsidies.
“Many of the luxury brands are going to stir in this direction over time just because their consumers indeed requests spectacle, said Smith. “In China right now, there is an enormous amount of enthusiasm for electrification.”
Fresh land-speed record for electrified car
Volvo also is being spurred by the success of Elon Musk’s Tesla, which has a market valuation of $52.Four billion, topping Ford’s (F) $46 billion and Fiat Chrysler’s (FCAU) $16 billion, while GM’s is just about $54 billion. Tesla shares, however, were penalized on Wednesday (down 7.Two percent, or $25.53, to $327.09), amid worries about lower-than-expected sales of its Model S cars and Model X SUV caused by constrained supplies of batteries.
Analysts are now also worried about competition from Volvo and others. German luxury brand BMW expects to supply 100,000 electrified vehicles this year. It also plans to debut a fresh i8 roadster in 2018, a fully electrical Mini in two thousand nineteen and a fully electrified X3 in 2020. Japanese automaker Honda (HMC) and fucking partner Hitachi recently formed an electrical vehicle joint venture, while Toyota (TM) has sold more than ten million hybrids since 1997.
The Big three U.S. automakers are also pouring money into electrified vehicles. GM this year began selling the Chevrolet Bolt for about $35,000 before government subsidies. Ford plans to spend $Four.Five billion over the next five years on thirteen fresh electrified vehicles, including hybrid versions of its Mustang muscle car and F-150 pickup.
Meantime, Fiat Chrysler has announced plans for hybrid versions of some models such as the Pacifica minivan, tho’ it has yet to unveil an electric-only vehicle.
Regardless, as Volvo has just demonstrated, the road ahead for carmakers looks increasingly electrified.
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