Volvo Cars plans to go fully electric in India by 2025, much earlier than its global target of becoming a full electric car company by 2030. The company’s Head of Commercial Operations for the Rest of Asia Pacific region, Nick Connor, stated that by virtue of being a niche player, the company can afford to become a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) only manufacturer much sooner than its competitors.
Volvo Cars will launch the electric version of its SUV C40 in the fourth quarter of 2023 and will keep launching one electric vehicle every year in India going forward. However, the challenge is that the pure BEV luxury segment is very small at the moment and is not enough for the company to be viable in the marketplace, so the company would have to continue to sell petrol cars and mild hybrids for some time.
Volvo Cars’ current India portfolio includes fully electric XC40 Recharge, SUVs XC90, XC60, and XC40, along with the sedan S90. India is a very important focus market for the company’s region, as it is probably the fastest-growing market in the region, with the greatest long-term potential. Both the XC40 BEV and the C40 BEV would be imported as completely knocked-down units and assembled at the company’s Bengaluru plant.
