Volvo to ditch diesel, VM’s boss suggests

Car maker says it may scrap diesel engine development beyond the current generation

Volvo to ditch diesel, VM’s boss suggests
Volvo has suggested increasing development costs could see the end of diesel models and that it would instead turn its energy to electric vehicles.

Volvo could be set to ditch diesel engine technology for its cars within the next five years.

Chief executive of the Swedish VM, Hakan Samuelsson said the cost of making diesel more emissions friendly could mean the brand’s current generation of diesel engines, introduce in 2013, could be the last.

Speaking to German newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he said: “From today’s perspective, we will not develop any more new-generation diesel engines.”

Diesel alternatives

Diesel will remain to be key for existing models but replacement models due for release after 2020 are more likely to be powered by petrol, plug-in hybrid or electric, with the Swedish car maker’s first all-electric model due to go on sale from 2019.

Samuelsson told Reuters: “We have just launched a brand new generation of petrol and diesel engines, highlighting our commitment to this technology.

“[But] we have to recognise that Tesla has managed to offer such a car for which people are lining up.

“In this area, there should also be space for us, with high quality and attractive design.”

It comes as diesel continues to face heavy criticism for emitting dangerous levels of nitrogen oxides.

The cost to meet strict emissions regulations has also seen Renault announce that it will no longer produce small engine diesels while Volkswagen increasingly turns its investment to petrol-hybrids for the next generation of Polo.

Do you think the diesel engine has a future in passenger cars? What could it mean for the future of your business? Leave your comments below.

3 Comments

  1. We have known that diesel produces carsinogenic particles ever since i was in college over 30 years ago,so i have always believed that cars would go full circle and go back to petrol or hybrids etc.Admittedly we do need diesel for heavy plant,lorries etc but there is no need for cars to run on diesel so i am glad to see this happening.

    Reply
  2. For twenty years I have been screaming about how dirty the diesel engine is, the Poet WH Auden wrote about it in 1972 “Vile Invention”, it is nothing new to those who cared to listen. The whole fiasco was driven by an insane obsession with CO2

    The next nightmare to come is electric car batteries. The average electric car battery weighs very roughly 500kg and the projected sales of electric cars could be 1.3 million per annum by 2027. The average battery will last 10 years so by say 2040 we could be looking at approximately six hundred and fifty thousand tonnes of dead batteries PER year that need to be disposed of, in the UK alone. Already these batteries are uneconomic to recycle so what is going to happen to a lot of them? Fly tipping….

    Reply
  3. Fords Ecoboost Engines, especially those found in the Fiesta and Focus are so good that the end of Diesel development has to be inevitable. Small engines and big power are the future…….As seen in Formula 1

    Reply

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