Volvo Makes It Official: No New Diesels

Volvo Car Corp. is expected to confirm tomorrow that it is phasing out diesel engines from its vehicle lineup, the Financial Times reports.

CEO Hakan Samuelsson will make the announcement in London during an FT conference. “We’re not saying diesel is more dirty,” he tells the British newspaper, “but it’s more complicated and more expensive.”

Several other carmakers—among them Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Nissan and Toyota—are taking similar steps for passenger cars (but not pickup trucks).

Samuelsson signaled Volvo’s diesel plan a year ago. That’s when he told Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the company would probably continue to make diesels until about 2023.

Volvo’s next new model, the S60 sedan due later this year, will be the brand’s first car in decades not to offer a diesel option. The company said last year that all new models from now on will be propelled by hybrid or all-electric powertrains. Samuelsson tells FT that plug-ins can match diesels in both fuel efficiency and low carbon dioxide emissions.