Volvo pledges its future to electric power

Every new model Volvo launches in the next half-decade will be available in plug-in hybrid form

Growth in car sales is normally good news – but this year’s rise is alarmingly high

Every new model from Volvo will now include a plug-in option – and the Swedes plan to launch a fully electric car by the end of the decade

Every new model Volvo launches in the next half-decade will be available in plug-in hybrid form.

The CMA platform has the capability to underpin a plug-in hybrid

The company also intends to have a fully electric vehicle on sale by 2019. Likely to be a premium performance SUV, this will offer rapid charging and a range of some 325 miles.

This will be preceeded on to the market by plug-in models based on the biggest vehicles in Volvo’s current range, including the XC90. This is already available in this form in Sweden, combining 407bhp with well over 100mpg and a mere 49g/km.

The all-new S90 saloon will get the plug-in treatment too, as will the range of compact premiums Volvo intends to launch starting in 2017. These will eschew 4wd, making them more efficient than ever.

Volvo believes the period between 2020 and 2025 wil be the era in which electric vehicles gain mass-market acceptance.

‘The time has come for electric cars to cease being a niche technology and enter the mainstream,’ said CEO Hakan Samuelsson. ‘We are confident that by 2020, 10% of Volvo's global sales will be electrified cars.’