Volvo Cars plans to go public and the reason behind it is the shift to electric vehicles (EVs).
In a report from CNBC, the European automaker plans to raise about $2.9 billion via an initial public offering with plans to invest in EVs. Volvo has a cutoff date for all internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030 and this will help secure the transformation.
At the beginning of this year, the bulk of the automakers in the world announced they would be transitioning away from primarily selling combustion engine vehicles and moving to electric models by 2030.
General Motors said it would phase out gas- and diesel-powered cars by 2035 and Daimler said it was going to accelerate its plans to transition to electrification. Ford said it would not rule out producing gasoline vehicles but will invest $22 billion in EVs with the primary vehicles being electric moving forward as of 2030.
Volkswagen, Jaguar, Volvo and many others have made similar pledges and the Biden Administration plans to swap all 650,000 U.S. government vehicles with electric models.
Volvo said it will become a fully EV company by 2030.
The move to EVs in the automotive market is the biggest transition the industry has faced in decades. The move comes as consumer interest in EVs has skyrocketed partly due to the appeal of new sleek vehicles such as those from Tesla Motors and partly due to consumers and companies seeing the transition to help combat climate change. Additionally, regional emissions regulations are helping the transition to EVs as countries seek to reach net-zero CO2 emissions in the coming decades.
