Volvo is to stop offering diesel versions on all new models launched from next year.
Instead, they will be available as either a mild petrol hybrid, plug-in petrol hybrid or battery electric vehicle.
The new S60 saloon – to be launched later this spring – will be the first Volvo to be produced without a diesel engine.
It will initially be available with a range of four-cylinder Drive-E petrol engines as well as with two petrol plug-in hybrid versions. Mild-hybrid versions will follow next year.
Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, said: “Our future is electric and we will no longer develop a new generation of diesel engines.
“We will phase out cars with only an internal combustion engine, with petrol hybrid versions as a transitional option as we move towards full electrification.
“The new S60 represents the next step in that commitment.”
Samuelsson told the FT: “We’re not saying diesel is more dirty, but it’s more complicated and more expensive.”
He said lower fuel consumption was the “only advantage of diesel,” but that “you can get that back with a mild-hybrid engine”.
Volvo Cars last month reinforced its electrification strategy by stating that it aims for fully electric cars to make up 50% of its global sales by 2025.
The new S60, a premium mid-size sports saloon, is based on Volvo’s in-house-developed Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) platform, which also underpins the company’s new 90 series and 60 series cars.
The S60’s estate sibling, the V60, was launched earlier this year in Stockholm.
David Hartley - 16/05/2018 11:45
Very interesting move by Volvo - who are one of the larger Truck manufacturers in the world as well as plant and machinery and marine engines, all of which burn diesel. I would have thought that until everyone can get a grip on how to change everything from Diesel to an alternative the moves in cars is somewhat just scratching the surface? The number of New LCV and Trucks being delivered and older ones running around the UK alone must have a larger contribution to the emissions 'everyone' is trying to reduce than cars actually do??? Until there is a policy based on hard factual evidence that a shift from diesel will actually help, especially as we are seeing increases recently in used car and van sales, I think manufacturers are possibly getting ahead of themselves and taking choice away from the consumer. An alternative to diesel needs to found across the board, not just on cars and this debate has been going on now for probably more than 20 years. I can remember seeing Trucks and dustbin lorries with huge gas tanks fitted to them, hydrogen fuel cells being lorded as the future by various authorities and yet nothing changes. Why is this? Maybe the cynic in me sees too much control by the major fuel companies such as BP and Shell? Do they actually possess the technology for change - effective and workable change but are still trying to extract as much as they can from the petrochemical industry until the point arrives when it is financially sound for them to announce the new technology? Just a thought.