FILE PHOTO: The mascot, the so-called Spirit of Ecstasy or Emily, is pictured on a Rolls Royce car displayed at the headquarters of Chabe, Chauffeured Cars Services, in Nanterre near Paris, France, July 2, 2020.REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File PhotoReuters
BERLIN (Reuters) – Rolls-Royce will produce only electric cars by 2030, the luxury carmaker said on Wednesday, joining other premium brands making the switch such as Volkswagen’s Bentley and Jaguar’s Land Rover.
The BMW-owned brand said in a statement that its first fully electric powered car, named ‘Spectre’, will be on the market in the fourth quarter of 2023, with testing to begin soon.
“With this new product we set out our credentials for the full electrification of our entire product portfolio by 2030, said Torsten Muller-Otvos, CEO of Rolls-Royce, which is based in the south of England.
“By then, Rolls-Royce will no longer be in the business of producing or selling any internal combustion engine products,” Muller-Otvos added.
BMW has not set an end date for producing fossil fuel burning cars, instead setting a goal of 50% electric vehicle production by 2030, but its subsidiary Mini said in March it would go all-electric by the end of the decade.
The Jaguar brand of Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover will go all-electric by 2025, Volkswagen AG’ luxury unit Bentley Motors by 2030, and Mercedes Benz maker Daimler by the same year, if market conditions allow.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Nick Carey, Christina Amann; Editing by Alexander Smith)
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