Volvo has confirmed that its best-selling XC60 SUV will remain in production alongside its all-electric replacement, the EX60, as part of a 'bridge solution' for customers not yet ready to go fully electric. CEO Hakan Samuelsson told The Independent at the EX60 launch in Stockholm that a facelifted version of the XC60 is planned.
Samuelsson stated: 'We will improve it and it will stay on the market as a sort of bridge solution as long as it is needed.' He added that Volvo is 'less dogmatic' about setting a date to end plug-in hybrid production, saying: 'If they still want the plug-ins, no problem.'
The EX60's new SPA3 platform offers cost advantages, achieving margin parity with plug-in hybrids. Samuelsson noted: 'We can now be very neutral because of our margin parity. So, if people want to go EX, no problem – it’s the same margin for us. And if they stay with a plug-in hybrid, let them stay.'
Volvo will collaborate with parent company Geely on future plug-in hybrid models to reduce development costs. Samuelsson hinted at second-generation plug-in hybrids that treat the electric motor as primary, with a combustion engine as backup, citing the China-only XC70 as an example. He said: 'The plug-in hybrids are moving from being a totally conventional car... to where the plug-in hybrid should be in an electric car, which has a backup engine when the batteries are flat.'
While a new-generation XC60 plug-in hybrid could be co-developed with Geely, Samuelsson said it is 'too early to talk about it.' The XC70, built by Geely in China, may eventually come to Europe.
