Volvo Cars could go 100% electric in India by 2025, selling 1,800 units in 2022

Swedish luxury carmaker Volvo Cars could go fully electric in India by around 2025, well ahead of its global goal of becoming an all-electric car company by 2030, a senior company official said on Tuesday.

The company, which will launch the electric version of its C40 SUV in the fourth quarter of 2023, will continue to launch an electric vehicle every year in the country going forward.

Nick Connor, Volvo Cars’ business operations manager for the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, said that as a niche player, the company can afford to become a manufacturer of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) only much earlier than its competitors.

“I think we’re going to accelerate. We can’t do it this year, maybe in 2025. We said we’ll be 50% electric (globally) by then, we could say well in India, we are going to be 100% electric. We have already said in Australia, for example, that by 2026 we will be 100% electric,” he told reporters here during an interaction.

Connor, who was chief operating officer of Volvo Cars Australia before his current role, was answering a question about plans for the company’s electrification trip to India.

“We have seen a much faster acceleration towards battery electric vehicles than we ever thought (in Australia). It took us by surprise. I think it could well happen here (in India) because we are not a mass manufacturer, we have the luxury of being able to differentiate ourselves from the market,” he asserted.

The challenge, however, is that the BEV pure luxury segment is very small at the moment and is not enough for the company to be viable in the market, he said, adding that for some time, the company is expected to continue selling gasoline-powered cars. and mild hybrids.

“As the market develops, we will accelerate the move to BEV. The tipping point for us will come soon enough,” Connor added.

Volvo Cars’ current Indian portfolio includes the fully electric XC40 Recharge, the XC90, XC60 and XC40 SUVs as well as the S90 sedan.

Regarding the importance of the Indian market, he said: “India is a very important target market for our region. We see it as probably the fastest growing market in the region, with the greatest long-term potential. Volvo Cars has seen strong demand for its XC40 BEV which was launched towards the end of last year in India, he said, adding that last year’s sales were limited. only by supply and that demand was far greater than supply in India and around the rest of the world.

“We will launch C40 BEV, a pure electric vehicle, in the fourth quarter of this year. We have already seen very strong demand for this car in the markets where we have already launched it. We expect similar levels of demand for C40 BEV like we would have for XC40 BEV in India,” Connor said.

The XC40 BEV and C40 BEV would be imported as completely knocked down and assembled units at the company’s Bengaluru plant.

“I think it’s very important to us that we produce as many cars here as possible to meet local demand,” he added.

In terms of EV sales versus total company sales in India, he said, “We have not set specific targets for India or any other market due to production uncertainties. But I think if the global percentage is 11% (last year), or (18% in the fourth quarter of 2022), we would like to be at a similar level for India, or maybe even a little more strong.” Last year, the company sold around 1,800 units in India and expects to record its best ever sales, surpassing the previous record of 2,600 units sold in 2018.