Volvo Cars sold 530,649 cars in the first nine months of 2021, up 17.6 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Europe, China and the US all reported sales growth in the January-to-September period, despite a challenging year where Covid-19-related supplier shutdowns have caused a global material shortage.
In September, Volvo Cars’ global sales reached 47,223 cars, down 30.2 per cent compared to the same period last year. The decline was related to a shortage of components. This affected production, although it picked up again late in the month. The demand for Volvo Cars’ products remained strong.
For the first nine months of 2021, the number of Volvo cars sold online increased by more than 360 per cent compared with the same period in 2020. This growth was driven by increasing customer demand in combination with a broadened offer in more markets.
Volvo Cars’ Recharge line-up of chargeable models, with a fully electric or plug-in hybrid powertrain, continued to be popular among customers. The share of Recharge models sold globally reached 24.9 per cent for the first nine months of the year, and 26.9 per cent for the month of September.
US sales in the January-to-September period totalled 95,365 cars, up 29.6 per cent compared with the same period last year. In September, the number of cars sold reached 9,350 cars, a decline of 9.0 per cent compared to September 2020, primarily due to a shortage of available cars.
Volvo Cars’ sales in Europe reached 220,371 cars in the first nine months of the year, up 10.0 per cent compared with the same period last year. The sales performance for the month of September was heavily affected by the shortage of available cars, affecting sales in markets such as Sweden, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Italy. This resulted in a drop to 18,089 sold cars, a 41.5 per cent decline compared to the same period last year.
Volvo Cars’ sales in China reached 132,610 cars in the first nine months of the year, up 17.1 per cent compared with the same period last year. In September, 9,696 cars were sold, a decline of 43.9 per cent compared to the same period last year.
A detailed break-up of regional sales is given below:
|
|
September |
|
|
January- September |
|
|
|
|
2020 |
2021 |
Change |
2020 |
2021 |
Change |
|
Europe |
30,906 |
18,089 |
-41.5% |
200,333 |
220,371 |
10.0% |
|
China |
17,292 |
9,696 |
-43.9% |
113,278 |
132,610 |
17.1% |
|
US |
10,274 |
9,350 |
-9.0% |
73,604 |
95,365 |
29.6% |
|
Other |
9,164 |
10,088 |
10.1% |
63,913 |
82,303 |
28.8% |
|
Total |
67,636 |
46,452 |
-30.2% |
451,128 |
530,649 |
17.6% |
Globally, the XC60 continued to be the best-selling model for the company in the January-to-September period, retailing 162,596 cars (2020: 131,091), followed by the XC40 with total sales of 156,920 cars (2020: 121,905 units), and the Volvo XC90 with 80,402 cars sold (2020: 61,327 units).
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Volvo Car Group in 2020
For the 2020 financial year, Volvo Car Group recorded an operating profit of 8.5 BSEK (14.3 BSEK in 2019). Revenue over the period amounted to 262.8 BSEK (274.1 BSEK). For the full year of 2020, global sales reached 661,713 cars (705,452), a decline of 6.2 per cent compared to 2019.
About Volvo Car Group
Volvo Cars was founded in 1927. Today, it is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world, with sales of 661,713 cars in 2020 in about 100 countries. Volvo Cars has been under the ownership of Zhejiang Geely Holding since 2010.
As of December 2020, Volvo Cars employed approximately 40,000 (41,500) full-time employees. Volvo Cars’ head office, product development, marketing and administration functions are mainly located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars’ head office for APAC is located in Shanghai and for Americas in Mahwah, NJ. The company’s main car production plants are located in Gothenburg (Sweden), Ghent (Belgium), South Carolina (US), Chengdu and Daqing (China).
Under its company purpose, Volvo Cars aims to provide customers with the Freedom to Move in a personal, sustainable and safe way. This purpose is reflected in a number of business ambitions: for example, by the middle of this decade it aims for half of its global sales to be fully electric cars, half of its sales to be online and half of its software to be in-house. Volvo Cars is also committed to an ongoing reduction of its carbon footprint, with the ambition to be a climate-neutral company by 2040.
