Volvo to end diesel car production by early 2024

LONDON -- Volvo will end production of any remaining diesel models by early 2024 as it heads toward becoming an all-electric automaker.

"In a few months from now, the last diesel-powered Volvo car will have been built, making Volvo Cars one of the first legacy car makers to take this step," the Swedish company said in a statement.

Majority owned by China's Geely, Volvo has committed to going full-electric by 2030.

The last Volvo diesel to be sold in the U.S. was the 740, which was discontinued in 1986.

While a majority of the cars Volvo sold in Europe were diesel as recently as 2019, in 2022 they made up just 8.9 percent of the Swedish brand's sales.

In August 33 percent of Volvo's sales were full-electric or plug-in hybrid models.
The company did not break out how many of the remaining 67 percent combustion-engine models were diesel and how many ran on gasoline.

Sales of diesel models have declined rapidly in Europe since VW's emission-cheating scandal and automakers have been gradually reducing the number of diesel models available in their model lineups.

Diesel vehicles comprised more than 50 percent of Europe's new car sales in 2015 but accounted for just over 14 percent of sales in July.

Douglas A. Bolduc contributed