Swedish automaker Volvo has announced that it expects fully electric vehicles to account for 50% of its total sales by the year 2025. This complements the company’s 2017 declaration that all of its new models scheduled for release in 2019 will be electrified—meaning they will either be mild hybrids, plug-in hybrids or battery-electric vehicles.
If you’re wondering how Volvo will manage to make half of its production completely electric seven years from now, the answer is China. Volvo has been owned by Geely since 2010, and it’s counting on the EV-pioneering People’s Republic to make this happen.
“Last year we made a commitment to electrification in preparation for an era beyond the internal-combustion engine,” Volvo Cars president and CEO Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement. “We now reinforce and expand that commitment in the world’s leading market for electrified cars. China’s electric future is Volvo’s electric future.”
China is already Volvo’s biggest market, giving the brand more than 100,000 sold units in 2017. And it looks like the manufacturer’s sales performance in the territory is continuing to surge, with its first-quarter numbers for 2018 up by 23.3%.
Volvo currently has three assembly plants in China, located in Luqiao, Chengdu and Daqing. Models made there include the S90, the S90L and the XC60.
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