The Swedish manufacturer Volvo has announced that will leave ACEA, the Association of European Vehicle Manufacturers, later this year. Volvo Cars has made this decision for the Disagreement with the employer’s position of manufacturers regarding the objectives of electrification and reduction of emissions of the European Union.
Volvo is one of the manufacturers most committed to electrification, and not only nozzle. The Swedish manufacturer is one of the fastest moving towards a ‘zero emissions’ electrified range and here is the main crux of the matter.
At the end of this year, Volvo will leave the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), claiming differences between its ‘zero emissions’ strategy and the position of the car lobby European. “We have come to the conclusion that Volvo Cars’ sustainability strategy and ambitions are not fully aligned with ACEA’s positioning and way of working at this stage,” the manufacturer said in a statement.
The employers of automobile manufacturers have been critical of the European Union’s electrification policies, and especially of the proposal to ban cars with internal combustion engines from 2035. According to ACEA, “any long-term regulation that goes beyond this decade is premature at this early stage.”
Volvo, for its part, has been in favor of moving more quickly towards mobility without polluting gas emissions. The Swedish manufacturer, owned by Geely, has committed to having a all-electric range by 2030 -five years before the European Union’s proposal to effectively ban fossil fuel cars-.
Last year, about one in four Volvos sold in the world was a plug-in (pure electric or plug-in hybrid). More specifically, 27% of Volvo’s global sales corresponded to Recharge models, as the brand calls its plug-in cars.
During the first quarter of 2022, Recharge models accounted for 33.6% of Volvo’s total sales worldwide, reaching 148,295 units. In Europe, the percentage of Volvo plug-in cars was almost 60%.
With these credentials on the table, Volvo believes “it’s better to take a different path for now”, adding that “what we do as a sector will play a big role in deciding whether the world has a chance to fight climate change”.
This news comes just a month after the world’s fourth-largest automaker, Stellantis, said it too would be leaving ACEA at the end of 2022 as part of a new approach to tackling future mobility issues and challenges. Instead, Stellantis will create the ‘Freedom of Mobility Forum’, an annual meeting where various issues on sustainable mobility would be publicly debated.
To date, still including Stellantis and Volvo, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association is made up of the 16 leading car, truck, van and bus manufacturers in Europe: BMW Group, DAF, Daimler Trucks, Ferrari, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Iveco Group, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Renault Group, Stellantis, Toyota, Volkswagen Group, Volvo and Volvo Group (manufacturer of trucks, buses and construction machinery, independent of Volvo car manufacturer).
