Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | Twitter
Volvo CEO Jim Rowan said, in an interview to Automotive News Europe, that the automaker is “tottally focused on battery-electric vehicles” while seeing a strong demand, specifically in Europe.
When asked about how well will the U.S. be prepared in 2030 considering Volvo will be a pure EV maker by then, Rowan mentioned the example of Tesla, that has been selling only fully electric vehicles for years — even when the electrification was at an earlier point.
“First of all, we are starting to see the U.S., even at a government level, start to lean into that shift. Secondly, the simplest comparison is, well, Tesla managed it. We are now looking at things through the lens of electrification. We are totally focused on battery-electric vehicles. There is no reason why that this shouldn’t be technically possible,” Volvo CEO said.
Commenting the European market, Rowan said the automaker is “seeing strong demand” for their BEVs (battery-electric vehicles) considering the old continent to have more progressive mindset towards the EV adoption.
BE THE FIRST ONE TO GET THE NEWS
” [Strong demand] specifically in Europe where we are starting to reach that inflection point. I think the mindset of the consumer is more progressive toward BEVs than in some other parts of the world. But this mindset shift will accelerate globally as well because along with being great for the environment the vehicles offer a nice driving experience in terms of the technology,” he said.
Less than a month after Stellantis Group announced the departure from ACEA, also Volvo informed it will leave the European Automobile Manufacturers Association by the year end. The automaker Volvo said its sustainability strategy and ambitions “are not fully aligned with ACEA’s positioning and way of working at this stage.”
The announcement was made at a time when ACEA failed in its lobbying efforts to push back the European Union’s intention to phase out cars with internal combustion engines.
In June, the automaker delivered 49,904 vehicles — down 26.9 per cent from 2021 — with the sales of recharge models (BEV + PHEV) in Europe accounting for 33.8 per during the month. The company said that 25.1 percent of the sales in the U.S. were Recharge models (PHEVs and EVs) and in California, the recharge market share reached 75 per cent.
Recently, the automaker announced that will build its third European plant in Kosice, Slovakia. The construction of the $1.25B factory is planned to start in 2023, with equipment and production lines installed during 2024 and the series production in 2026. The facility is designed to produce up to 250,000 cars per year and allows for further expansion of the plant in the future, the automaker said.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | Twitter