All the Promises Automakers Have Made About the Future of Cars

Yet another announcement came yesterday: Volvo, the Swedish slash Chinese car company, announced that it will only offer electric or hybrid vehicles by 2019. It was widely hailed as a bold move.

Previously, the company had committed to selling 1 million hybrid and fully electric vehicles by 2025.

Right now, hybrids have 2 percent of the passenger car market in the U.S., and completely electric vehicles are still a rarity. Even in EV-friendly California, battery-powered cars only hold 2.7 percent of the market.

But in a car industry roiled by self-driving vehicles and self-promoting Tesla, which is now , automakers have to sell more than cars to be seen as exciting by Wall Street. They’ve got to be companies, not manufacturers. And that means developing autonomous systems, figuring out the art of bold pronouncements.