- The first deliveries of the Volvo C30 Electric to European customers are slated to begin this summer.
- The Swedish automaker says "no decision has been made for the U.S."
- The American market instead may get a Volvo plug-in hybrid.
GOTHENBURG, Sweden — Volvo Cars will begin leasing its C30 Electric to European customers later this summer, but a North American spokesman said "no decision has been made" on whether to offer the compact electric vehicle in the U.S. Instead, Volvo may send a plug-in hybrid to the American market.
"No decision has been made on the C30 Electric for the U.S.," Dan Johnston, a spokesman for Volvo Cars of North America, told Inside Line in a telephone interview on Thursday.
Volvo Cars CEO Stefan Jacoby "has said we will be getting a plug-in hybrid," Johnston said. The timeframe for launching the plug-in hybrid in the U.S. is 2013-'14, he added.
Volvo earlier this year displayed the C30 Electric — including a crashed example — at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show. At the time, the company said it planned to begin the first deliveries to customers in Sweden in early 2012.
Inside Line says: Volvo is planning to build and lease as many as 250 C30 Electrics in Europe over the next year, with deliveries limited for now to Sweden, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands.
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