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Europe on track to buy more PHEVs than hybrids by 2019

LMC Automotive, formerly the forecasting division of J.D. Power & Associates, predicts that plug-in hybrids will sell better than conventional hybrids by 2019. By 2021, it envisions PHEV sales at 600,000 units yearly compared to 325,000 standard hybrid sales, and by 2024 PHEV sales are expected to account for 1.2 million sales every year. Part of LMC's prediction is based on a few factors, such as that it believes "electric-only operation will come to be seen as a true luxury characteristic and will be prized sufficiently to command significant premiums." Certain PHEVs are helped in countries like the UK and The Netherlands by generous incentives or other perks, like avoiding inner London's congestion charge, that allow them to address their price differences compared to standard offerings. And the number of PHEVs on the market will soon eclipse regular hybrids, coming from makers across the spectrum. Volvo has twice recently, and only belatedly, learned of the popularity of PHEVs: in 2013 it had to triple production of the V60 PHEV, and just this month it said demand for its XC90 PHEV is four times expectations. The Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid is outselling the traditional hybrid Panamera by more than seven-to-one. And then there's Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Europe's best-selling PHEV with 19,855 units, a volume more than three times larger than the second-best seller. Although LMC sees hybrid growth slowing, they're still doing well. Toyota and Lexus build the top-five selling traditional hybrids in Europe, combining for 72 percent of European sales, with the new Auris and Yaris hybrids alone selling 123,506 units in 2014. For LMC's forecast to come true, Europe will need a spectacular change in buying habits, since the top ten conventional hybrids tallied 175,847 sales in 2014, and the top ten PHEVs rang up 36,138 sales. Featured Gallery 2015 Volvo XC90 T8 View 14 Photos News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Green Mitsubishi Toyota Volvo Hybrid ev sales hybrid sales toyota auris hybrid toyota yaris hybrid

Volvo EX30 U.S. arrival delayed until at least next year

Despite an aggressive campaign ongoing for more than a year to market Volvo’s compact all-electric SUV in the United States, the Swedish-based company said today that it will delay introduction of the EX30 until next year. Russell Datz, a Volvo spokesman, said in an email that the on-sale date of the EX30 is “due to changes in the global automotive landscape.” Datz also attributed the delay to a “ramp up of production at our plant in Ghent, Belgium, with a 2025 target delivery date to be announced.Â’Â’ Volvo though its own channels began taking pre-orders for the 2025 EX30 after it was introduced formally just year ago; the anticipated U.S. price was announced at that time as starting at $36,145, including an $1,195 destination charge Datz added that Volvo “will offer customers with existing preorders several options to drive a new Volvo until their EX30 arrives.Â’Â’ No specifics about that, so stay tuned. “Importantly, we remain committed to bringing EX30 to the US and are working hard to get it into customer hands,” he said. It “remains a cornerstone of Volvo CarsÂ’ ongoing strategic transformation and reflects our ambition to build cars where we sell them as much as possible.” The EX30 is now sold in European markets. During a conference call with dealers today, Volvo executives suggested that the move to shift assembly to Belgium and away from China was an effect of the “geopolitical” situation. Reading between the lines, one might assume that recent moves by the Biden administration to impose high tariffs on cars imported here from China mightÂ’ve motivated the shift. Deliveries of the EX30 to the States was first expected earlier this year. Volvo said it would be offered with two powertrain options, both of which rely on a 69-kilowatt-hour cobalt-lithium-manganese-nickel composite battery, 64 kWh of which is usable. The base model, called Single Motor Extended Range, will have a rear-wheel-drive layout and produce 268 horsepower and 253 pound-feet of torque. Volvo expects this version to have a range of 275 miles on the U.S. EPA test cycle.

Tina Fey sits down with Seinfeld for new CiCGC

Recently Jerry Seinfeld went out for a videotaped cup of coffee with Jay Leno in a vintage Gmund Porsche. Switching coasts and cars, this time New York's own son returns to his city for a jaunt in a 1967 Volvo 1800S with fellow New Yorker Tina Fey for the latest episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
The trip takes them uptown to Cuban coffee shop Floridita in Harlem, then back downtown to a pastry shop. On the way, Jerry calls out a photo shoot for using a fake Porsche, and Fey admits she doesn't have a driver's license. Driving cars, she says, "is like Twitter to me." Which she also doesn't do - she lasted seven tweets in 2009.
You can check out the episode below as they go in search of coffee, the rare guanabana/soursop juice, Jerry's even more elusive product placement and the last Cronut in NYC.