Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Volvo halts new diesel production

Reuters reports that Swedish carmaker Volvo's latest generation of diesel engines could be its last as the cost of reducing emissions of nitrogen oxide is becoming too much, chief executive Hakan Samuelsson was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

'From today's perspective, we will not develop any more new generation diesel engines,' Hakan told German's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview.

However, Hakan did go on to say that he believed diesel engines still had a crucial role to play in reducing emissions.

'We have just launched a brand new generation of petrol and diesel engines, highlighting our commitment to this technology. As a result, a decision on the development of a new generation of diesel engines is not required,' he said.

And until 2020 he said diesel would be needed to help meet carbon dioxide emission limits set by the European Union, but after that other regulations would come into play, with the costs of making engines compliant with ever higher anti-pollution standards meaning it would no longer be worth it.

Looking to the future, Volvo will concentrate on electric and hybrid cars, wit the first pure electric model due on the market in 2019.