Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, will build its first fully electric car in China, the company announced today at Auto Shanghai in China.
The all-new model will be based on Volvo’s Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) for smaller cars, and will be available for sale in 2019 and exported globally from China, Volvo said.
The decision to make its first electric car in China highlights the central role China will play in Volvo’s electrified future and underlines China’s growing sophistication as a manufacturing centre for the automotive industry.
“Volvo Cars fully supports the Chinese government’s call for cleaner air as outlined in the latest five-year plan. It is fully in-line with our own core values of environmental care, quality and safety,” said Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive of Volvo Cars. “We believe that electrification is the answer to sustainable mobility.”
China is the world’s largest sales market for electrified cars and has ambitious targets to expand sales of fully electric and hybrid cars in order to address congestion and air quality issues in its cities.
Volvo has a commitment to sell a total of 1 million electrified cars – including fully electric cars and hybrids – by 2025. It is also developing a fully electric car on its Scalable Product Architecture (SPA). The Swedish company also plans to offer plug-in hybrid versions of every model.
Volvo has three manufacturing facilities in China in Daqing, which makes its 90 series cars, Chengdu, which makes its 60 series cars, and Luqiao, which will make its 40 series cars.