Volvo Cars says new generation of diesel engines could be the last: CEO
Swedish carmaker Volvo's latest generation of diesel engines could be its last as the cost of reducing emissions of nitrogen oxide is becoming too much, Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
"From today's perspective, we will not develop any more new generation diesel engines," Samuelsson told German's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview.
However, a Volvo Cars spokesman said on Wednesday Samuelsson had been discussing options rather than a firm plan to stop the further development of diesel engines.
Samuelsson later said in a statement emailed to Reuters he believed diesel would still play a crucial role in the next few years in helping the company meet targets to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, being more fuel-efficient than petrol engines.
"We have just launched a brand new generation of petrol and diesel engines, highlighting our commitment to this technology. As a result, a decision on the development of a new generation of diesel engines is not required," he said.
In the FAZ interview Samuelsson said Volvo would continue improving the current range, first introduced in 2013, to meet future emissions standards, with production likely to go on until about 2023.
And until 2020 he said diesel would be needed to help meet carbon dioxide emission limits set by the European Union, but after that other regulations would come into play, with the costs of making engines compliant with ever higher anti-pollution standards meaning it would no longer be worth it.
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