Volvo will become synonymous with electric cars

Volvo announced on Wednesday that from 2019 all the cars leaving its factories will be electric, making it the world's first traditional carmaker to abandon its fuel-only engines.

In the market since 1927, the Swedish automaker, famous in recent decades for its high safety standards, said the decision is one of the "most significant changes ever made by a manufacturer" and meets the wishes of its own customers.

According to the company, the goal is to sell 1 million vehicles by 2025, from varied models - from fully electric cars to hybrid versions. The decision initially applies to Volvo Cars, meaning the trucks will continue to be produced as now by Volvo Trucks.

"The announcement marks the end of the combustion engines," said Hakan Samuelsson, president of Volvo. "The demand for electric cars is increasing, and we want to give an answer to our consumers."

Volvo's plan, which since 2010 belongs to the Chinese company Geely, is to launch five fully electric cars between 2019 and 2021. Three of them will be Volvo models and two of its branch of high-performance Polestar cars.

The automaker stressed that it is continuing its goal of reducing pollution in cities and achieving a carbon-neutral production by 2025.

Last year, the company hit record sales, with 534,000 cars sold, an increase of 6% over the previous year.