Volvo to dump diesel
Diesel engines to disappear from Swedish brand’s line-up from mid-2021Volvo Car Australia will kill off diesel models from its range within two years.
The Scandinavian brand has been a popular choice with long-distance drivers Down Under because of its diesels, but says mild-hybrids and fears about particulate emissions could quickly kill demand.
Volvo Car Australia managing director Nick Connor says the recent European experience with diesels is being reflected in Australia as hybrids take the high ground.
He says customers are turning away rapidly from diesel sedans and wagons, with SUVs also taking a big hit and mild-hybrids having a growing impact.
“It may well be that we phase-out all diesels in a year or so,” Connor said.
“We will phase out diesel completely… in Europe. We are seeing diesel dry up massively all around the world and even here it's tapering off very quickly.
“We anticipate that diesel demand will fall off fairly quickly as mild hybrids come along.”
Volvo dealers still have diesel vehicles in stock, but the company will stop ordering any new models.
That means the end of the large Volvo V90 wagon (pictured above), which is exclusively diesel-powered, and Australians will no longer be offered a 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel engine in the Volvo XC90 large SUV, or a single-turbo diesel in the Volvo XC40 small SUV.
The drop in diesel demand is illustrated in the XC40, in which it was 65 per cent of sales but has fallen to 40 per cent in the past year.
“The large SUV segment is still predominantly diesel, but we anticipate that the diesel demand will fall very quickly as mild-hybrids with petrol engine come along that offer the same or better performance and the same or better economy.”
Volvo already has plug-in hybrid versions of the XC40, XC60 and XC90 available in Australia.
As Volvo rationalises its model line-up to allow for plug-in hybrids and fully battery-electric cars, Connor also sees the end for old-school Volvo station wagons in favour of its SUVs.
“We are known for wagons. It's our heritage. But the [wagon] segments are not very big,” he said.
“The segment has just disappeared. [So] We will phase out V90.
“We don’t see the need to continue with V60 and V90. So we are phasing out V90. It’s effectively happening now.”
According to Connor, the death of diesel is a prelude to the run-down of internal combustion engines (ICE) of all types.
“We have to prepare for the run-down of ICE engines. I’m sure there will come a point, and it’s probably not more than a decade away,” he said.
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