In 2017, Volvo Cars had announced that every car it launches from 2019 onwards will have an electric motor; it marked the end of Volvo cars that only have an internal combustion engine (ICE) and placed electrification at the core of the company’s future business. It represented one of the most significant moves by any carmaker to embrace electrification and highlighted how, over a century after the invention of the ICE, electrification is paving the way for a new chapter in automotive history. Now, as 2019 is coming to a close, Volvo Cars has announced it will be unveiling the fully electric XC40 SUV in October.
“With the introduction of the forthcoming fully electric Volvo XC40 SUV next month, Volvo Cars is not just launching its first fully electric car—in true Volvo tradition, it is also introducing one of the safest cars on the road, despite a fresh set of challenges presented by the absence of an ICE,” the company said in a statement.
“Regardless of what drives a car forward, be it an electric machine or a combustion engine, a Volvo must be safe,” said Malin Ekholm, head of safety at Volvo Cars. “The fully electric XC40 will be one of the safest cars we have ever built.” The all-electric XC40 will be first shown to the public globally on October 16.
