Volvo Car AB produced its latest diesel-powered car this week, ending an era for the manufacturer that plans to make only electric vehicles by 2030.
The XC90 sport utility vehicle left the factory at the Torslanda plant in Sweden on Tuesday afternoon. Volvo Car is phasing out this technology just as global demand for electric vehicles is cooling, although it will continue to manufacture cars with gasoline engines.
“We are pretty confident that we have very good offers for customers even without diesel,” Erik Severinson, Volvo Car executive in charge of new vehicles and operations strategy, said in an interview.
Other automakers have been strategically evasive about when they will phase out combustion engines, and some have backtracked on their electric vehicle goals.
Mercedes-Benz Group AG last month delayed its sales forecast for this technology and now expects battery-powered vehicles to be stuck at less than half of their sales for longer than expected. At the end of last year, Audi said it was scaling back its rollout of electric vehicles.
In 2017, Volvo Car became the first major automaker to commit to phasing out vehicles powered solely by fossil fuels and has since introduced several hybrid and fully electric models.
In Europe, the brand's main market, diesel vehicles peaked nine years ago, with around half of the sales new. Last year, registrations fell by up to 14%.
