Volvo bets big on expansion plans

Volvo already has two plug-in hybrid cars in its line-up, the XC90 T8 and the V60 diesel D6 hybrids, but the Swedish car-maker wants to expand that expertise into a pure- electric Tesla rival by 2019.

“We believe that the time has come for electrified cars to cease being a niche technology and enter the mainstream,” Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, said. “We are confident that in two years’ time, 10 per cent of Volvo’s global sales will be electrified cars.”

The new standalone model will use Volvo’s recently introduced “Scaleable Product Architecture” – seen so far on the XC90 – and will most likely be an SUV, both to provide the requisite space for the huge number of batteries and also to act as a direct rival to the likes of Audi’s upcoming Q6 e-Tron quatrro and Tesla’s Model X. Volvo is already speaking of a roughly 550km one-charge range and some trick fast-charging technology.

Meanwhile, the first fruits of Volvo's new platform collaboration with its owner, Chinese car-maker Geely, seems to be bearing fruit. While the Scaleable Product Architecture is good for vehicles of S60 and V60 size and above, for smaller cars it's too expensive and Volvo has been missing out on the boom in compact hatches, saloons and crossovers.The first model to be spun off the platform will be a compact crossover called XC40, due to arrive in 2018.