The Swedish brand owned by the Chinese Geely has reduced its sales target for 2030 from 100% electric cars to 90%. A symbolic decline and reflection of the current doubts about this engine.
Volvo Cars said Wednesday it was abandoning its goal of selling only electric vehicles by 2030, instead setting its target at between 90% and 100%. The Swedish automaker cited “a slower-than-expected rollout of charging infrastructure, the withdrawal of government incentives in some markets and additional uncertainties created by recent tariffs on electric vehicles in several markets.”
“Full electrification remains a key pillar of Volvo Cars’ product strategy,” the group, owned by China’s Geely, said, but it will not be possible in 2030 “due to changing market conditions and consumer demand.”
The Volvo EX30, assembled in China but whose production is due to be repatriated to Europe in 2025, will potentially be hit by a customs duty increased from 10% to 30%.
Volvo Cars announced in 2021 this objective of 100% electric vehicles sold by 2030, five years before the European objective of selling only electric cars in 2035.
10% of “mild hybrid models”
Its new target is that between 0 and 10% of its sales will consist of a “limited number of mild hybrid models”.
Volvo Cars sells five fully electric models and is developing five more. Its electric vehicles will make up 50 to 60 percent of its range by 2025, and a full range of fully electric cars will be available “well before the end of this decade,” the company said.
“This will enable Volvo Cars to move to full electrification when market conditions are right,” he added.
All-electric cars accounted for 26% of its sales in the second quarter of 2024, “the highest proportion among all its premium peers,” it said. Its share of electrified vehicles – which includes electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids – represented 48% of sales, it said.
Volvo Cars shares were down nearly 7% on Wednesday afternoon, at 26.20 Swedish crowns on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
