No new diesels for Volvo

Geely’s Volvo Cars will not develop any new diesel engines as the cost of reducing emissions of nitrogen oxide is becoming too expensive, according to chief executive Hakan Samuelsson.

“From today’s point of view, we will not develop any new generation diesel engines,” Samuelsson said.

Volvo has been gradually weaning itself off engines and platforms shared with former owner Ford and, under current Chinese owner Geely, is developing its own Drive-E engine range, first rolled out in 2013.

The engines, which are all built with a maximum capacity of two litres and four cylinders, offer lower weight, size and complexity, all resulting in lower emissions, lower fuel consumption and greater driveability.

Volvo says it wants to further develop its current diesel, only a few years old, and adapt it to the future Euro 6c exhaust emission standards, but the cost would be too high.

Samuelsson would not say exactly how long the existing engine generation could remain in use but indicated this could be expected until about 2023.

Automakers have until 2021 to achieve the EU fleet CO2 emissions average target of 95g/km (from 130g now) which cannot be reached without including diesels in the range.