Volvo Is Ditching Diesel Engines Forever in 2024
Unlike in Europe, diesel Volvos were never big sellers in the U.S., but they played an important role in car culture.
Volvo will build its final diesel-powered vehicle sometime in early 2024, it confirmed Tuesday morning during Climate Week NYC. CEO Jim Rowan expressed the brand's desire to become a fully electric brand by 2030. This is the final step of a plan that Volvo introduced in 2018 when it announced that the then-new S60 wouldn't offer a diesel option.
This might not seem like a big deal for American buyers who haven't been able to buy a diesel Volvo in ages, but it is for the global market. Up until 2019, diesel models actually made up the majority of Volvo's European sales. However, this isn't about sales. It's about Volvo's goal of becoming a completely climate-neutral brand by 2040.
“Electric powertrains are our future, and superior to combustion engines: they generate less noise, less vibration, less servicing costs for our customers, and zero tailpipe emissions,” said Rowan in a press release. “We’re fully focused on creating a broad portfolio of premium, fully electric cars that deliver on everything our customers expect from a Volvo and are a key part of our response to climate change.”
Since Volvo wants to go fully electric by 2030, it stopped spending to develop all internal combustion engines—gas or diesel—back in 2022. At the moment, Volvo's lineup in the U.S. is technically fully hybrid, as even its normal gas-powered cars have mild-hybrid systems. However, soon Volvo will move to a lineup of only plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles, as it transitions away from internal combustion by the end of the decade.
There's certainly a case to be made for sticking with hybrids, rather than going full EV, and some automakers have stated so publicly. Especially since Volvo is very good at making fun plug-in hybrid performance cars.
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