Volvo and Polestar BEAT CO2 target for 2020 and deliver Ford a helping hand

Volvo and Polestar announce they will beat their CO2 targets for 2020 and avoid fines, and will be entering a ‘Pooling’ arrangement with Ford.

Are car makers churning out endless new iterations of hybrid cars because they have an overwhelming desire to reduce emissions and save the planet? No.

What car makers are busy doing is pushing car buyers in to hybrids – in particular plug-in hybrids and EVs – to hit the target level of average CO2 emissions they must meet for 2020 to avoid punitive fines from the EU.

That is being helped by business users who get big BIK tax breaks for running an EV or PHEV – making the ‘electrified’ versions of popular cars a no-brainer – with those car makers who have been quick to electrify a chunk of their range sitting pretty (well, Covid allowing) and others not so well.

We’ve already reported that Volvo, BMW, Renault and PSA are likely to hit CO2 targets, and now Volvo has confirmed they’re not only going to hit targets in 2020, but with room to spare.

With sales of plug-in hybrids accounting for more than a quarter of sales in Europe this year – making Volvo the leading purveyor of ‘Premium’ plug-in cars – and with Polestar now delivering the Polestar 2 EV, Volvo is now giving Ford a helping hand with their emission targets, entering in to a ‘pooling’ arrangement with Ford and promising resulting revenue will go back in to ‘Green’ projects.

Volvo boss Håkan Samuelsson said:

For Volvo Car Group, the future is electric and we are transforming our company through concrete action.

I am pleased to see that we are exceeding our CO₂ reduction targets. It proves our strategy is the right one for our business and for the planet.