Electrifying news! Volvo is making a huge commitment to electric cars. Today, The Swedish car manufacturer put quantities and dates on goals it first published in its Volvo Cars Sustainability Report 2015. Volvo said that it will make one million electric cars by 2025 in a press release.
“It is a deliberately ambitious target,” said Håkan Samuelsson, Volvo’s president and chief executive. “It is going to be a challenge, but Volvo wants to be at the forefront of this shift to electrification.” To reach the million-car goal Volvo is going to introduce two hybrid versions of each model in its lineup and sell its first all-electric car by 2019.
Volvo has been developing two platforms for five years for its future hybrid and all-electric vehicles. The Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) for smaller cards will be used with future 40 series models. Future 60 and 90 series vehicles will be based on the Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) for larger vehicles.
The company’s Sustainability Report and today’s announcement go far beyond building electric vehicles. Volvo is committing to climate neutral operations by 2025. Addressing gender equality, Volvo is aiming to have women in 35 percent of its executive positions by 2020. Also by 2020 Volvo, which for generations has focused on driver and passenger safety, has set a goal that by that year, no one will be killed or injured in a new Volvo. Reaching out to the international automotive and industrial community, Volvo is committing to work with its international partners to promote sustainability in all areas.
President Samuelsson said, “Sustainability is nothing new or something that sits outside our operations, it is something that forms an integral part of everything we do. It is simply our way of operating. This new sustainability commitment reflects Volvo Cars’ fundamental belief that we must also grow responsibly.”
Volvo is going beyond the typical equivalent miles per gallon goals and emissions level standards that most car companies tout when speaking about their planned hybrids and all-electric vehicles. By extending the concept of responsible world citizenship to personal safety and gender equality as well as environmental impact and reliance on fossil fuels, Volvo is modeling a comprehensive role for future-minded companies.
