Taking the lead from Swedish carmaker Volvo, Volkswagen has just announced that it’ll be moving away from the internal combustion engine as early as 2026.

A report by Reuters says that the brand’s head of strategy, Michael Jost made the announcement at the Handelsblatt automotive summit conference which was held at its headquarters in Wolfsburg.

The strategy chief said that the last generation of vehicles using combustion engine technology will roll out in 2026. After that, they will be phasing them out in favor of electric or electrified vehicles. The move is seen as a global one and will roll out across more than 300 cars, vans, trucks, and motorbikes under the VW umbrella.

Jost clarified though that VW will continue to adapt its petrol and diesel-engined cars to meet environmental standards during the lifetime of those vehicles, but sees the future to be completely electric.

Volkswagen made a strategy shift toward battery-driven vehicles in the wake of a damaging diesel-emissions cheating scandal in 2015, which forced the carmaker to pay more than 27 billion euros (P 1.61 trillion) in fines for hiding excessive pollution.

Source: Reuters