Volvo will introduce diesel-hybrid vehicles "within four years or sooner"

While the traditional hybrids are already starting to gain more followers recently, when combined with diesel engines consumers may queue up to get one, since they are an even better solution than the first ones. Unfortunately, they are proving more difficult to develop because diesel blocks are not as compatible with the requirements imposed by electric drives.

However, the Swedish manufacturer announces that it could shorten the wait, as it is working on this hybrid system combining a conventional diesel engine with an electric motor acting as an auxiliary drive unit, where the first would handle the front axle and the second the rear, so it would have four-wheel drive.

The first product with this mechanism could appear in 2012 or sooner, after which the long-awaited “plug-in” version with a plug would arrive to recharge the electric motor’s batteries. The models that would initially receive the system would be the top of the range.

Until then, Volvo’s strategy to keep expanding its green technology will be to fit the start-stop system across the whole range, as well as versions with reduced emissions and consumption, and to gradually replace the eight-cylinder engines with turbocharged six-cylinder ones, which are more viable in the current market situation.

Source | Autoblog en Español