Volvo has set itself an ambitious sales target of hitting the 1 million electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars by 2025 – and has vowed to offer at least two hybrid models of every single model in its range.
The Swedish firm will also release its first all-electric car in 2019, although it’s the hybrids that will play the biggest role in hitting its heady 1 million target.
Volvo president and chief executive Hakan Samuelsson admits “it is deliberately ambitious… it is going to be a challenge but Volvo wants to be at the forefront of this shift to electrification”.
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The target is another bold aim by Volvo: it has also promised that, by 2020, nobody will be killed or injured in one of its new cars.
The key to Volvo’s electrification strategy is its new flexible platforms, dubbed SPA and CMA. These can easily take hybrid or full EV technology – some models, such as the plug-in hybrid Volvo XC90, are already on sale.
Volvo’s 1 million electrified cars promise is part of its ‘omtanke’ sustainability programme: this also dictates that operations will be climate-neutral by 2025.
The firm has also committed to having 35% of its leading positions held by women by 2020.