As the first fully electric model of the brand and second to the Volvo group, the electric XC40 comes at the end of the year

The company said it would present the fully electric version of the attractive Volvo XC40 by the end of the year. The inclusion of the fully-battery-powered performance of the compact SUV will be a key step in the brand to the trend of electrification, which aims to achieve half of its global sales by 2025, consisting of electric vehicles.

Last month, Volvo said the small SUV would receive two additional plug-in hybrid options, in the variant of the T5 and the T4 performances.

The electric XC40 will be the first battery-powered model of the Swedish manufacturer and the second fully electric vehicle of the Volvo Car Group. The first model of the group was Polestar 2, presented at the Geneva Fair last month. Both electric vehicles should emerge by 2020.

The two fully electric models will be based on the compact modular architecture CMA, which Volvo developed with the Chinese sister company Geely. This architecture also represents the basis of some of the models of the Chinese-Swedish automotive brand Lynk & CO, which is owned by Geely Holding Group. These include models 01, 02 and 03, whose combined sales in China last year reached 120,000 units, which was a sufficient incentive for the company to wish to expand to the European market. They plan to open new salons in five European countries next year.

Volvo’s chief executive, Hakan Samuelson, said the company expects XC40’s hybrid performances to account for as much as 25 percent of the global sales of the model. Currently, in the global brand sales of 10-15 percent, there are plug-in hybrid models.