Volvo has confirmed that its first fully electric car is to be built in China.

The announcement, made at Auto Shanghai in China, details an all-new model based on Volvo’s Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) for smaller cars, which is set to go on sale from 2019.

The decision is said to highlight the central role China will play in Volvo’s electrified future and underline the country’s growing sophistication as a manufacturing centre for the automotive industry. 

“Volvo Cars fully supports the Chinese government’s call for cleaner air as outlined in the latest five-year plan. It is fully in-line with our own core values of environmental care, quality and safety,” said Hakan Samuelsson, chief executive of Volvo Cars. “We believe that electrification is the answer to sustainable mobility.” 

China is the world’s largest sales market for electrified cars, and has ambitious targets to expand sales of fully electric and hybrid cars in order to address congestion and air-quality issues in its cities. 

Volvo has a commitment to sell a total of 1 million electrified scars – including fully electric cars and hybrids – by 2025. It is also developing a fully electric car on its Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) and plans to offer plug-in hybrid versions of every model. 

Volvo currently has three manufacturing facilities in China: in Daqing, which makes its 90 series cars; Chengdu, which makes its 60 series cars; and Luqiao, which will make its 40 series cars.