Volvo cars will no longer have conventional engines, the carmaker announced on Wednesday, with all models becoming either electric or hybrid by 2019.
The Swedish company is the first traditional carmaker to make the pledge, saying the announcement marks “the historic end” of cars solely powered by petrol or diesel and “places electrification at the core of its future business”.
All of its models will be petrol or diesel free within two years, hailing the end of an era for the manufacturer. The move will also increase pressure on electric car companies such as Tesla, who have seen a rapid uptake in interest in its electric models since the startup company was founded in 2003.
Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive of Volvo, said it was “about the customer”.
“People increasingly demand electrified cars and we want to respond to our customers’ current and future needs”, he added.
“This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car. We have said we plan to have sold a total of 1m electrified cars by 2025. When we said it we meant it. This is how we are going to do it.”
Volvo has been owned by Chinese company Geely since 2010 and has posted increasingly positive results since the acquisition. In 2016 sales rose 6.2 percent to a record 534,000, , with revenues up 10 percent up to SEK 180 billion and operating profit up 66 percent to £990 million.