Volvo Underestimated Plug-In Hybrid Demand: Will Triple Production
Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson admitted that the company hugely underestimated demand for its plug-in hybrid cars and now is hard at work to increase the production capacity.
Currently, Volvo does not have enough batteries, motors and other components to produce all the plug-in vehicles that it could sell. Further expansion should increase sales by 20-25% by the end of this year. The capacity is expected to triple compared to 2018, which should give the Swedish manufacturer a little room for new and updated models.
"We are not happy because we could sell more [plug-in hybrids], he said. We underestimated the demand. We are tripling the capacity from what we had about a year ago to where we will be at the end of this year."
According to Samuelsson, plug-in hybrids account for 10-15% of particular models offered in ICE and PHEV versions, globally.
Volvo PHEV sales in Europe according to JATO Dynamics:
2017: ≈16,000
2018: ≈26,800
2019: expected growth of 20-25% to 32,000-33,500 according to Volvo