Volvo Automobiles unveiled an bold product street map at its annual supplier assembly on Wednesday because the Swedish automaker accelerates towards an all-electric future.
On the convention in Miami, attended by about 800 Volvo retailers from throughout the Americas, firm executives laid out plans to introduce seven new and redesigned electrified fashions over the subsequent few years, together with 5 battery-electric autos and two plug-in hybrids.
Based on individuals who attended the assembly who requested to not be recognized, Volvo informed sellers that the brand new steel, which can start to arrive as early as subsequent yr, ought to assist retailers double their retailer throughput to about 800 autos a yr by 2025, sellers informed Automotive Information.
The 5 new BEVs embrace giant and small crossovers, a sedan and two sporty wagon-like fashions that Volvo executives known as “exercise autos,” in keeping with the individuals who attended the assembly.
Volvo additionally confirmed redesigned variations of its S90 and XC90 plug-in hybrids.
“Volvo is without doubt one of the most enjoyable producers,” mentioned a supplier. It’s “nailing” the product combine with a give attention to crossovers, electrification and expertise, the supply mentioned.
A Volvo spokesman didn’t affirm the data supplied to Automotive Information and declined to debate future product.
The long run EVs sport a contemporary interpretation of Volvo’s signature Thor’s Hammer lighting design. The battery pack within the next-generation EVs will sit underneath the flat flooring, letting designers prolong the wheelbase and create extra inside area. The design permits the crossovers’ hood and roofline to be lowered for enhanced aerodynamics with out compromising visibility for occupants.
The primary of the next-gen EVs is a full-size crossover that gives a 3rd row and borrows styling cues from the Idea Recharge prototype. Volvo expects to promote about 20,000 of the crossover subsequent yr, sellers had been informed.
Information of Volvo’s product offensive has begun to leak in current weeks. One of many new autos, an electrical crossover, internally code-named V546, is predicted in 2025, Automotive Information first reported in early February. That mannequin will slot between the midsize XC60 and enormous XC90 crossover in dimension. World manufacturing expectations for the automobile are mentioned to be roughly 100,000 autos yearly, with manufacturing within the U.S. and China.
Additionally within the pipeline are an all-electric model of the XC60 midsize crossover and a brand new EV positioned under the compact XC40. That mannequin will use the Sustainable Expertise Structure (SEA) that the Swedish automaker helped mother or father Zhejiang Geely Holding develop.
The SEA underpinnings will likely be utilized by different Geely-controlled manufacturers together with Polestar, Lotus, and London taxi maker LEVC.
The fleet of latest EVs will set off a ramp-up at Volvo’s U.S. plant in South Carolina, which presently builds the S60 sedan however operates at a fraction of its 150,000-vehicle annual capability.
Volvo now has an “bold hiring plan” for the plant, situated north of Charleston, a supplier mentioned. “They informed us they’ll be actually aggressive,” he mentioned.
The two.3 million-square-foot meeting plant would be the first manufacturing facility to construct Volvo’s new BEVs, Volvo Automobiles CEO Hakan Samuelsson informed Automotive Information final summer time.
“This manufacturing facility will … even be the one plant within the [Volvo Cars Group] which solely makes full-electric automobiles,” mentioned Samuelsson, who steps down as CEO in March.
The plant will start assembling the primary of two electrical crossovers late this yr.
Volvo affiliate Polestar will even launch manufacturing of a Porsche Cayenne-sized electrical crossover there. And in early 2023, Volvo will start manufacturing of its giant flagship electrical crossover on the plant.
Volvo additionally gave sellers an early look into a number of applied sciences deliberate for the brand new fashions.
“A few of the issues [Volvo is] doing with security and autonomous driving is on the expertise forefront,” a supplier mentioned.
Based on sources who attended the Miami assembly, Austin Russell, CEO of security provider Luminar Applied sciences, pitched his firm’s lidar sensor expertise, which makes use of laser gentle pulses to create exact pictures of the surroundings across the automobile. Lidar will likely be a key element of Volvo’s “hands-free, eyes-off” Trip Pilot driving expertise that can bear testing in California by the center of this yr.
Volvo additionally confirmed off a seat that self-adjusted for security primarily based on rider top, a built-in pet crate and an in-vehicle e-commerce platform, sellers mentioned.