Volvo goes all-in on electric vehicles

Five new models set to be launched in 2019 through 2021 won't have traditional engines. Photo credit: Getty

Car-maker Volvo says all its new cars will be electric within two years.

The company will continue to produce pure combustion-engine Volvos from models launched before that date, but said it would introduce cars across its model line-up that ranged from fully electric cars to plug-in hybrids.

It'll be first major traditional carmaker to set a date for the complete phase-out of combustion engine-only models, though electrification has long been a buzzword across the industry, and Elon Musk's Tesla Motors has been a pure-play battery carmaker from day one.

"This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car," Volvo chief executive Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement.

Five new models set to be launched in 2019 through 2021 - three of them Volvos and two Polestar-branded - will all be fully electric.

"These five cars will be supplemented by a range of petrol and diesel plug in hybrid and mild hybrid 48-volt options on all models," Volvo said.

"This means that there will in future be no Volvo cars without an electric motor."

Volvo is now Chinese-owned but its vehicles are still made in Sweden.

Reuters / Newshub.

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