Volvo confirms Recharge sub-brand

A new Volvo sub-brand, Recharge, will be the umbrella term for the Swedish car-maker’s electrification plan in Australia.

Recharge is the variant name for the company’s newest plug-in hybrid model, the Volvo XC40 T5 PHEV , but will take a much bigger role in 2021 and beyond.

It becomes the name for an electrified spin-off, covering both full battery-electric models and plug-in hybrids, in a Volvo plan that is very different to the upscale ambitions when Toyota created Lexus and Hyundai went with Genesis.

“Recharge is now a sub-brand. It covers plug-in hybrids and BEVs. So anything that can be plugged in will be part of Recharge,” said the managing director of Volvo Car Australia, Nick Connor.

The XC40 T5 PHEV joins the larger XC60 T8 Polestar Engineered and the larger-still XC90 T8 R-Design as Volvo’s third plug-in hybrid SUV model and its fifth PHEV model in total, including the S60 T8 R-Design and its V60 wagon sibling.

Only the V90 Cross Country is unavailable with PHEV power, since it’s fitted exclusively with a diesel engine, but the big crossover and all other diesel engine options will soon be axed from Volvo’s Australian range.

Volvo Cars Australia’s first fully-electric model, the Volvo XC40 EV due here in mid-2021, will also be badged as a Recharge model.

“In the next models the plug-in hybrids will be applied in everything,” said Connor. “It will be PHEV and BEV cars in the future. We’re just launching the XC40 Recharge so effectively our plug-in range is complete.”

Volvo Cars’ Australian chief has ambitious plans for the Recharge models, based on Volvo’s experience in Europe and the growing enthusiasm for greener power in Australia via sales of its battery-boosted XC line-up of SUVs.

“We’ve been selling everything we can get. As we expand the PHEV offering in terms of model lines we see more potential,” Connor says.

“We're running between six and nine per cent across the range with PHEV, but we’re running at around 25 per cent in Europe. We’ve seen it ramp up very quickly.

“We would see that PHEVs would get up to 20 per cent within the next couple of years.”

Running through the range, Connor reports strong early interest in the plug-in XC40.

“The enquiry for the XC40 is very strong. We expect that to be running at 15 per cent from day one. We think the actual opportunity is far higher for XC40.

“XC60 is the most popular PHEV. The XC90 tends to be around the six per cent mark.

“Part of it is around availability. We know there is more natural demand than nine per cent.”

Connor admits the total PHEV sales numbers are still relatively small, but predicts a significant lift in 2021.

“It’s going to be about 400 in total [PHEV sales this year in Australia], across everything.

“[In 2021] I reckon we could do 20 per cent in PHEV, and we’re looking to do 10,000 [vehicles in total] next year.”

Looking ahead to the first Recharge pure EV, Connor says the Volvo team are still assessing its positioning and price.

“Next year we will be bringing the full XC40 BEV. We see it in a top-spec car. We think there is a sweet spot [on price] just above Tesla.