Electric Car news: First all-electric Volvo car will be made in China for world market

Volvo will build its first fully electric car in China from 2019. Besides being sold in China, the model will also be exported worldwide. Volvo has three manufacturing facilities in China; the 90-series is produced in Daqing while in Chengdu, 60-series cars are made, and in Luqiao, 40-series cars are produced. It has not been confirmed which of these factories will produce the fully electric Volvo.

Manufacturing its electric cars in China makes a lot of sense as the country has the world's largest sales market for electrified cars and has ambitious targets to expand sales of fully electric and hybrid cars in order to address congestion and air quality issues in its cities.

"Volvo Cars fully supports the Chinese government's call for cleaner air as outlined in the latest five-year plan. It is fully in-line with our own core values of environmental care, quality and safety," said Hakan Samuelsson, CEO of Volvo Cars. "We believe that electrification is the answer to sustainable mobility."

CMA platform for a fully electric car

The all-new model will be based on Volvo's Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) for smaller cars. This platform is not a smaller version of the SPA (Scalable Product Architecture) used on the latest 90-series cars but a separate development which is optimised for smaller models.

Being modular, it can be used for different types of vehicles, particularly those with hybrid and fully electric powertrains. CMA will also be used for some Geely models as well models in the new Lynk & Co brand (also by Geely).

By 2020, Volvo expects electric vehicles to account for 10% of total sales and has a commitment to sell a total of 1 million electrified cars (including hybrids like the XC90) by 2025. The Swedish carmaker (part of the Geely group) also plans to offer plug-in hybrid versions of every model in its range.

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[Chips Yap]

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