Volvo may have outlined its ambition to become a full-fledged electric car maker, but Volvo Car Malaysia & Thailand MD Chris Wailes says that a balanced portfolio of electrified products continues to be necessary from a business perspective in the short to medium term. For the Malaysian market, this means providing customers with a choice of mild-hybrids and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) in addition to core battery EV offerings.
“Moving forward, the cars that we will launch will be all-electric. The strategy hasn’t changed. We still aim to be an electric car company, but we have changed some of the flexibility regarding that, because a balanced portfolio means that the brand can try to cover most of the customers needs today,” he said.
“We did say that from 2025, every single car would be – at least half of them – electric, which actually we’re on track to do, and by 2030, it will be 100% EV. That won’t change. But, it’s evident that in each individual country, the adoption of electric vehicles is different, and that’s what we have to adapt to,” he said.
Wailes is pragmatic enough to realise that being inflexible would result in losing out on market share, “which would be a crazy thing to do when you’ve got that technology available already, and we can still supply customers that still want to buy a Volvo car, but want that transition from either a mild-hybrid or PHEV to a BEV. We’re not going to disappear on PHEVs and mild-hybrids.”
He said that the brand still has some customers that prefer mild-hybrids, and the company will keep that going as long as there is a demand. “Whether it’s small or big, if there’s a customer that wants to buy a car and will only buy a mild-hybrid car, then we need to keep that car,” he explained.
However, the majority of Volvo customers are opting for either PHEVs or BEVs. “Over 80% of what we sell is PHEV or full electric. I think last year it was 82%. So what we know is that the demand for mild-hybrids is starting to drop. At the same time, we have to look at the market demand, and the market demand potentially will change, and it could either go further towards EV or perhaps towards PHEVs,” he said.
“What I see, though, is that the PHEV forms a brilliant bridge for a customer that is transitioning from, let’s say, a diesel or a petrol car to an EV. This is because the data that we have is that over 50% of people that drive a PHEV do their daily commute to work on pure electricity, which means that they’re actually getting that experience of an electric car, but having the back-up plan of an engine as well,” he said.
Wailes admits that an EV won’t be the right car for everyone today, but that will change in the future. To the question of whether most people need to determine if an EV will fit into their lifestyle, he said that it’s more pertinent for consumers to understand and experience EVs for themselves. “The customer will already know whether it fits or not, because it isn’t necessarily a lifestyle choice. It’s more a case of what do they use the car for on an average day-to-day basis,” he explained.
Until the dust settles, he said the brand will continue to adapt to changes that will continue to occur in the transition toward electrification. “As an industry, we’re in this huge state of transformation, and we just have to keep evolving. It’s not just Volvo, it’s everyone. We just have to keep up with it,” he said.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
because consumers are not interested in over priced outdated cars. european brands mean nothing these days.