Is this the beginning of the end for the internal combustion engine in cars? While companies like BMW still operate on multiple tracks, companies like Volvo put everything on one card. And make it clear when you will only be able to offer electric cars. Now Volvo is making an exclamation mark and is at least removing diesel from its range at the beginning of 2024.
So Volvo Cars stopped producing diesel engines. With the announcement at Climate Week in New York (until September 24, 2023), the company is underlining its ambitious goals: From 2030, Volvo wants to sell only electric cars and thus become a climate-neutral company by 2040.
Last year, Volvo announced that it would stop developing new combustion engines and use the corresponding research and development budgets elsewhere. In November 2022, the shares in Aurobay, the joint venture in which the remaining combustion engine business was located, were also sold. The most recent new introductions are two electric cars: the EX30 and EX90.
Volvo itself is pursuing even more ambitious goals. With today’s (September 19, 2023) announcement of the diesel engine phase-out and participation in the A2Z discussions and other meetings as part of New York Climate Week, the Swedish manufacturer wants to inspire even more companies to take bolder action against climate change.
According to Volvo, the decision to completely phase out diesel engines in early 2024 shows how quickly both the automotive industry and customer demand are changing in the face of the climate crisis.
Just four years ago, the diesel engine was the preferred driving option at Volvo and most other car manufacturers in Europe. And so most of the Volvo models sold in Europe in 2019 were diesel engines, while electrified models were only in their early stages.
