Last month, Volvo set a dramatic aim to only sell electric vehicles by 2030, speeding it’s ambition after battery cars started to sell a lot more. Volvo is a Swedish brand owned by China which is introducing a new lineup of battery cars.
It displayed the second battery-only vehicle called the C40 Recharge. Moving even yet another step more than the latest rivals’ mindset on electric vehicles, Volvo will shift all it’s sales online, the brand revealed in a statement. If you want to buy or sell used Volvo cars in UAE, now’s your chance to visit CarSwitch website.
Official statements and details
The Chief Executive Officer of Volvo, Hakan Samuelsson, stated in an interview: “Going electric will strengthen our brand, it means going into a growing segment. Combustion cars are a shrinking segment.”
This decision is subsequent to its competitors such as General Motors Company, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen AG which announced their decisions to electrify their products. Apart from the strict emissions regulation, high valuations gained by EV-only arrivals have played the role of a wakeup sign in the automotive industry.
Volvo’s decision also arrived days after the company and Geely Automobile Holdings Limited (both owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Company), gave the decision to blend instead of deepen ties to advance the speed of development. This duo will share automotive platforms, innovative connection and software stacks, and will engage with their powertrain undertakings in a different unit.
Having the cooperation of the Chinese owners, the brand has strengthened its investment in battery cars since 2017, when it first revealed that it is deciding to depart vehicles which depend on combustion engines.
Nevertheless, Volvo holds only 1 fully electric vehicle under its name in the industry which is the compact crossover XC40 Recharge. In addition to this, Polestar, which is owned by both Geely and Volvo, introduced its rival to Tesla Model 3 in 2019.
Insight of the decision
Volvo has before stated that it will cultivate 5% of its yearly revenue into development and research, and this percentage will be sufficient to finance the electric vehicle initiation, Samuelsson said to the reporters. The brand sold more than 660,000 vehicles previous year and had full year revenue of 263 billion Swedish kronor ($31.2 billion).
The C40 Recharge, situated below the XC40 Recharge with a sloping roofline, is the earliest Volvo which will come with no combustion model and will be sold online. It will be constructed at the same platform as the XC40 and showcase a variety of 420 km (261 miles).
The model will arrive in a dangerously competitive segment, moving up against the murder of latest battery-only vehicles such as BMW iX3, Audi Q4 e-Tron and Ford Mustang Mach-E. Samuelsson said that “A growing segment will always attract newcomers.”
Hopes for the future
In 2025, the company expects half of its vehicles available to turn completely electric and the rest of the vehicles to be hybrids, comprising the so-called mild hybrid which does not come with a plug.
From being a part of Care by Volvo subscription active since 2016, Volvo has been selling vehicles online. This subscription’s concept will be increased to include outright sales, with a package for maintenance, insurance and roadside assistance.
In 2025, approximately half of all sales will be expected to shift online, as predicted by the head of commercial operations, Lex Kerssemakers. This is up from 15% presently in the industry where Volvo provides the subscription service.
All of the online sales will be finished with a non-negotiable settled price via the official website of Volvo. Meanwhile, dealers will still be a part of the purchases, delivery and service procedure, explained by the company.
“This is about bringing the online and offline experience together. Set prices will help save people hopping from one dealer to the next,” said Kerssemakers. It also “increases transparency and builds trust.”
He further said, “Online and offline need to be fully and seamlessly integrated. Wherever the customer is in their journey- online, in a showroom, in a Volvo Studio, or driving the car- the customer experience needs to be top-notch.
Moreover, Volvo aims to reconfigure it’s online store to make the purchase process easier, providing pre-configured vehicles which will be set for fast supply.
