Volvo CEO Hokan Samuelsson shared his thoughts on how the car market will change after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. He believes that the “shake” caused by the infection will accelerate the massive shift to electric cars, making them more popular. People in big cities will refuse private cars, and there will be more subscription services.
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Samuelsson is confident that electric cars will dominate the post-pandemic market, but the top manager does not explain why he makes such a conclusion. “Electrification will accelerate,” Hokan quoted CGTN as saying. – It is naive to believe that in a few months everything will return to normal and buyers will come to the showrooms with a request to sell them a diesel car – they will ask for more electric vehicles. And this will happen more and more often. ” Apparently, the head of Volvo is counting on support from the governments of different countries, because he says further that “the authorities need to spend money on promoting new technologies, not old ones.”
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Now Volvo has only one electric car – the Volvo XC40 Recharge P8 AWD.
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The compact crossover received two electric motors with a combined return of 408 horsepower and 660 Nm of torque, as well as a traction battery for 78 kilowatt-hours. Mileage on one charge – “more than 400 kilometers.”
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Samuelsson also believes that the very form of car ownership will change: people will more often refuse to buy a personal car in favor of subscription and leasing services. “The concept of a personal car in the city has become obsolete,” Hokan emphasizes, although skeptics disagree with him.
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Most are confident that after a pandemic, people, on the contrary, will avoid public transport and change to personal. However, the head of Volvo believes that city residents will simply walk more or ride bicycles, but cars alone will not solve the problem.
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As for drones, Samuelsson forecasts that they will appear soon. Although robotic taxis are able to independently move around a limited area and in good weather, they can go on the road in the coming years. At this point, Volvo itself will present an improved version of the SPA 2 architecture, which will receive hardware support for advanced autonomous motion systems.
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