Volvo Might Have Permanently Stopped Developing Diesel Engines But It's Not That Simple
Volvo, one of the manufacturers that first made diesel cars popular (and good) has announced that it may be permanently stopping developing the technology.
Citing Tesla as the prime example of a company that builds advanced, zero-emissions cars that people are ‘queueing up for,’ the Swedish brand has decided to call it quits on all of its diesel models.
Instead, Volvo is developing fully-electric and hybrid drivetrains across its lines, the first full EV from which will make its debut in 2019. It seems the company is using its relatively low build volumes to be more flexible and react faster than the German behemoths can.
The information comes from an interview Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson gave to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine. Non-German-speakers might have to translate the page in-browser. First on the agenda is a 48-volt electrical system similar to that already put into practise by Audi. It will be used to develop petrol-electric hybrids leaning towards a plug-in design, plus fully-electric cars.
The German title does make useful note of the fact that petrol engines don’t offer the same sort of long-legged towing ability as good diesels do; particularly larger and more powerful diesels. Volvo isn’t directly replacing diesel for heavy towing duties – at least not yet.
Volvo has already moved to a maximum-four-cylinders policy, with three-bangers on the way as well. We don’t know when the final diesel Volvo will be sold, but this one-time leviathan of diesel drive might just have started saying its goodbyes.
Comments
Does this apply also to Volvo trucks?
No. Different company, technically, if I’m not mistaken.
Nope, offering only petrol engines in trucks would be commercial suicide.
I’d say it started with Dieselgate. I’d also say, that in the next 5-10 years, Diesel taxes for normal road cars (not for trucks) are going to rise so much, that “normal” people will not be able to afford it.
Volvo is just making a deep step into the future, whether we like it or not.
Thank God
NOOOOOO
Diesel is dying.
OOOOOOOOOHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOO
OHHHHHHHHHHH SHET
Yeah, finally…
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/survivor1.gif
BUT POWER PULSE.
POWAR PULSE.
POWAR.
POWAR
.
…
..
NUUUUUU
that sucks. oh well
The mother has abandoned it’s child!
The fact that they also only use 2.0l engines shows that they are low on budget (since they are now on their own and are not owned and benefitted by a huge company). Might also be one of the reasons for ditching Diesel development.
They’ve downsized for fuel economy and better emissions.
Mainly because they blew their budget launching the world’s most complicated mass-market four cylinder engine, lol. I don’t think anyone’s ever put a twincharged motor in a regular car before, in the past it’s always been sport-oriented models. Besides, if the turbo four worked for Volvo for almost half a century from the fifties to the nineties, why can’t it work today? It may not be as “smooth”, but I see not a single German car that’s as refined, clean, and serene as a new 90 series car that doesn’t cost at least twice as much.
They actually owned by Geely, a Chinese company that has invested more into Volvo Cars than Ford, so that kind of breaks that argument.
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Treehuggers.