Saar: The carmaker will commence this chapter with the XC90.

It was in April this year when we first reported that Volvo Auto India is upgrading its assembly plant in Bengaluru to make space and assemble hybrid vehicles. Then, at the media drive event of the Volvo XC40, Charles Frump, who is the managing director at Volvo Auto India, confirmed that the XC60 and S90 will also get the same plug-in hybrid powertrain that does duty in the XC90.

Well, all those developments will start falling in place from next year. The carmaker has confirmed that by the end of 2019, it will start assembling plug-in hybrid models in India. This chapter will start with the Volvo XC90 T8. By doing so, Volvo Cars will become the first automaker to assemble plug-in hybrid models in India.

Here’s what Frump said in an official release:

“The localization of plug-in hybrids marks the future of electrification for us. Our customers are increasingly becoming aware about the rise in pollution levels and degrading environment. However, till the time we have supporting infrastructure, plug-in hybrids offer the intermediate solution.”

The company has also confirmed that it will bring a range of PHEVs (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles) in the following three years. The range will include the PHEV derivatives of the S90, XC60 and the XC40. Volvo Cars has already confirmed that starting with the new S60, which was unveiled earlier this year, no model will ever feature a diesel-fed engine. Volvo Cars is well on its way to offer an electrified variant of all its models from next year.

Volvo Auto India is aiming for a 10 per cent market share by 2020. And the carmaker believes that by leading the game of locally assembling hybrids will help its case further. As part of its global strategy, Volvo Cars will slowly start phasing out conventionally-powered vehicles and that will make way for electrified models. In fact, Volvo Cars has said that it is aiming for 50 per cent sales from pure electric vehicles by the year 2025.

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Rachit Shad Trehan
A car nutter by heart. A hopeless engineer by education. Gunning for one goal - simplify cars.

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