Swedish car maker Volvo to roll out electric cars in India by 2019

Falling in line with the Indian government plan to have only electric cars in India by 2030, Swedish premium car maker Volvo Car Corp said it will sell electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars in India after 2019.

“Globally, by 2019, every new product will either be full battery electric, hybrid or plug-in hybrids and we are certainly going to do the same in India,” said Charles Frump, managing director of Volvo Auto India.

Volvo plans to bring products including full electric, plug-in hybrids and hybrid vehicles. The company aims to sell 10 lakh electric vehicles worldwide by 2025. It wants to add 30 new dealers across the country in the next two years in an effort to increase its 5% market share in the premium segment to 7-10% over the next two years.

However, Volvo is yet to decide on a vendor for the Lithium-ion batteries. The compnay also claims to be first among automobile manufacturers to announce their plans to stop manufacturing internal combustion engines (ICE) across markets.

This is the first time any premium or luxury vehicle manufacturer has revealed plans to introduce only electric vehicles within a certain time line in India. The move could help Volvo stay ahead of its German competitors like Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi.

The company had made this move to stay ahead of its competitors like Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi. "The advantage we have is that the entire product range at present can be converted to electrified cars which means, the volumes of electrified luxury cars will be heavily skewed towards Volvo,” said Frump.

Mercedes Benz is also awaiting government adequate support and clarity in policy. Ford Motor and Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) Ltd are in talks to build the new electric sedan. Both the companies are looking to get together to take advantage of electric vehicles opportunity in India.

India is expected to become the second-largest passenger vehicle market by 2026 with the annual volume of 13.4 million units per year (if the local economy grows at an annual pace of 7.5%), according to the Indian government. The govt has declared that it wants complete shift to be electric vehicles economy from current diesel and petrol vehicles.

States like Gujarat, Karnataka, and Telangana have swung into action to capture the new investment involving automobile makers for manufacturing clean vehicles.