As of next year, Volvo halts production and subsequent sales of diesel engines in its entire model line-up. The news was symbolically released at Climate Week in New York. CEO of Volvo Jim Rowan called electric cars “a key part of our response to climate change”.

As of 2024, cars from Volvo will only be available with petrol, both thermic and hybridized. This will bridge the brand’s powertrain strategy to the end of the decade when it only vows to produce and sell electric models.

Volvo is the first premium brand to abandon diesel technology. The last generations of the Mercedes E-Class and the BMW 5 still feature them.

‘Not a single krona’

Volvo calls it the next milestone in its decarbonization plans. Next to the above-mentioned ambition, the brand also sold off all its stakes in Aurobay, the joint venture that oversaw the combustion engine assets. “We’re no longer spending a single krona of our R&D budget on developing new internal combustion engines,” the company said in an official statement.

The first step in Volvo’s u-turn on diesel engines was the S60, released five years ago without the option. The then-CEO of Volvo, Hakan Samuelsson, commented: “We’re not saying diesel is dirtier, but it’s more complicated and expensive.”

A dirty fuel

As a matter of fact, Volvo has never been a fierce fan of diesel technology throughout its history. Scandinavian countries traditionally regarded it as a dirty fuel best reserved for use in heavy-duty transport. However, the company changed its stance as the European market started to favor them in passenger cars by the turn of the century.

At a given point, its frugal diesel even proved a bread-and-butter solution for the brand, selling bulks of them in corporate circles. Volvo admits this was still the case as late as “four years ago”.

Before the turn of the century, the Swedish brand bought diesel engines from Volkswagen and Renault but started manufacturing their own units for use in the S40/V40 as of 2003.

With CO2 savings benefitting the technology, Volvo was also one of the few pioneering brands to put money and faith in developing a diesel plug-in hybrid when electrifying combustion engines was at an early stage. That was with the V60 D6.