Q2 2026 Volvo financials

[Vova585]

Which system you would like us to focus on? We can start with "mild" hybrid which for me makes no sense. You are either making hybrid car or not. 48v system is not able to produce noticeable fuel economy. If I remember correctly is is advertised at 12% or so. In a real life situation, that return will be significantly less. When we will add complexity and cost of equipment- gain is not worth the investment in my opinion(which might as well be totally wrong). With all T8 platform, it is still not enough for a heavy XC90 to be competitive with rivals in terms of dynamics. I will imagine in xc60 T8 you will have a more noticeable "punch" . Battery range is low and lasting around 20miles in warm weather and significantly less in winter. Combined fuel efficiency is still quite low despite plug-in hybrid. In winter time my friend constantly had issies with either connector, access panel, or something else(now he has escalade and I haven't heard anything wrong despite it being GM product). The whole feel of the system operation to me is not well made. We used to have honda hybrid, still have prius, and also rav4 hybrid, corolla hybrid in family. The way Toyota made it..well, it is simply amazing smooth transitions between start/stop, nice regen/draw , they are the leaders in sales for a reason(i can complain about toyotas interior all day long, but hybrid system is so solid that they give 10 year warranty on it. Compare it to volvos 4 years components and 8 on just battery).
What will be the future? I dont know, thus far it seems like electric cars are gaining momentum slowly. If you live in a sunny state and have dispensable income-solar panels, back up batteries and ev solar charge- makes perfect sense, especially if your EV is able to cover 150-200 miles on charge. If you are living in a middle of nowhere and only seeing sun 140 days a year or even less thanks to Canadians making BBQ or smoke fish...you are in a different situation especially with added bonus of snowstorms, so ev is a hard option to commit. I personally think that now all major manufacturers will try to milk another 2 years from current MYs. Many car makers went upmarket, erased low trim levels, inflation...it is simply hard for families to afford 50k+ cars. On the other end if wars will be over(crazy idea, I know) we will have surplus of oil and no stimul to move to other technologies. If the gas will go even higher, well then bicycles and horse buggies likely will be quick addition grubhub or similar (Amish will make a great profit and also trained rickshaws). In reality- plug-in hybrids will likeky be a dominant type for the next 20 years until grid, service, recycling...can catch up with depand to accommodate the EV..then hopefully something better will come along when oil companies will be no longer able to lobby so significantly(can add oil producing countries), maybe hydrogen again, maybe still EVs, but with abundance of solar light(see recent approval of space sun energy station that can supply energy when it is night, so basically "Icarus" technology from 2002 Bond movie). Too many unpredictable variables.