What Does Volvo's Move To Electrification REALLY Mean To You And The Industry?

In the history of 'Tremendously Bad Ideas' this has to rank near the top. The number of Ecoweenies will not support all of the electrification being shoved down automotive consumers throats. If anything this may be the death knell of the lone remaining Swedish automaker. The ICE is long from dead.

So far, Volvo has only declared their *intention* or desire. When and *IF* intention becomes reality, that's when we'll be able to assess its impact.

Do you remember back in 2008, and then President Obama's intention was to put a million EVs on the road by the end of 2015... and it never happened?

Tesla Motors can't even meet its own intended quarterly production numbers.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Volvo announced their intentions to make only hybrid and BEVs come 2019 to do the following: Energize their base of loyal clients, gain a ton of free PR, drive social media chatter, perhaps get a few more folks to consider the brand who may not have done so in the past and are thinking that their next car should be a hybrid/BEV. I would say they have succeeded.

Exactly. This will excite their traditional base (college profs, liberals, et.al.) who now support the environmental movement. It fits in and if they are thinking about a hybrid or EV, will now return to Volvo. The botched and confused mainstream media headlines about Volvo going "all electric" will just add to the image Volvo wants.

Except that Volvo's traditional base is elderly baby boomers who are headed for the cemetery. Face it. The macrame-weaving, granola-eating crowd won't sustain Volvo.

Younger, downward-dog, tofu-eating buyers simply haven't gotten the Volvo vibe.

Subaru is the new Volvo and the younger crowd likes what they find at Subaru dealers.

Moreover, Volvo has abandoned their traditional base to play Mercedes wannabe given that the day of $75K Volvos is on us.

The boomers without Mercedes money bought Subarus.

In its heyday, Volvo was a near-premium brand like Buick. They will never be Mercedes and Subaru already has proven itself a better Volvo.

I work at a Volvo retailer and moving Hybrid anything without a ton of cash on the hood is a crapshoot at best. Eco-thought does not translate into Eco-pull-cash-out-of-one's-wallet.

Actually - moving Hybrids itself is a real problem - not just for Volvo. THe problem is that there are only so many people who are willing to buy these cars simply because they are "green". The rest of us want a clear advantage -= and the cost differential should result in decreased driving costs to balance out over some real time. THe problem is - the current extra cost takes 8-10 years to work out due to the low price of gas. ANd it seems gas will remain low priced for at least another decade. Then - add in that the $7500 tax credit is likely to stop for some manufacturers cars - and you then cannot justify the savings in gas EVER.

I recently got my last company car - a New Chevy Malibu Hybrid - and it is significantly better than the Ford Fusion Hybrid it replaced. Still - if I were paying the bill for the car - I could not justify purchasing it. ANd Hybrids are not - for the most part - satisfying performance vehicles - at this level. The Malibu may be better than the FORD was (I really really hated the CVT - and the Malibu Brake pedal feel is leagues ahead too) - but they are still transportation appliances - not at all fun

Is that what Toyota was doing with their lineup? Continue to sell gas engine cars while introducing hybrid versions of each model, and ramp-up their EV models.

Yeah...these "intent" press releases are really meaningless.

EV vehicles are still a hard-sell to the mainstream b/c most consumers would "feel" a lot more comfortable if they can plugin their vehicle at home overnight. And that's if they have a driveway or garage to do so...IF they have the money to spend on install costs, etc.

Taylor Swift humming all over this.

"Hater's gonna hate, hate, hate, hate.."

They didn't say their range will be purley EVs, they just said EVs and Hybrids.. I think the majority of their cares sold until then will be more hybrids than pure EV..

Or plugin hybrids, what they have now with the T8 trim.