Volvo must now back down once again when it comes to electric car caps. In Australia, you can't only sell electric cars in 2026.
Volvo Cars is once again changing its goals for the transition to only building and selling electric cars.
The former Swedish car brand has previously outlined a very ambitious plan to remove all gasoline and diesel cars from its model range.
In Australia, Volvo has adjusted its strategy as electric car sales are not meeting expectations. Originally, the plan was for Volvo to sell only electric cars in the country from 2026.
"There's no point in pushing ahead with a strategy if our consumers aren't ready for it," Stephen Connor, director of Volvo Cars in Australia, told the media outlet Drive .
The change of course by management comes after Volvo had to announce last autumn that globally, it cannot do without the gasoline engine as early as 2030.
Volvo drops another ceiling on electric cars
In Australia, however, Volvo was more ambitious and set 2026 as the deadline to sell exclusively electric cars. This is also not possible to meet.
– What has happened since we said we would only sell electric cars in 2026?
"The world has moved on even in two years. I'm amazed at how fast the automotive industry is moving right now – and it's moving at such a pace," says Connor.
The director does not want to go into what Volvo has done wrong, since it is not allowed to sell electric cars exclusively. However, he does acknowledge that consumer demand has been decisive.
Plug-in hybrids in particular are driving Volvo's sales in Australia. So, not to throw it all away, petrol cars are surviving.
– At Volvo, we are agile enough to change the operational approach to meet the long-term goal.
– The other thing I also think we've learned in a couple of years is that there's no point in pushing a strategy forward if our customers aren't ready for it, says Stephen Connor.
Volvo's global goal until last fall was that electric cars should account for 100 percent of their sales by 2030. In their new sustainability report, Volvo has adjusted this goal to 90 to 100 percent of the cars sold should be "electrified." So not necessarily electric cars.
Currently, sales of cars with pure combustion engines or mild hybrid technology account for over 50 percent of Volvo's total sales.
