Volvo Car records best-ever six months global sales

The Volvo XC40 Recharge Plug-in Hybrid was launched in NZ this year. Photo: Andrei Diomidov Photography

Volvo Cars reported its strongest ever first-half-year sales in the first six months of 2021 as it sold 380,757 cars globally, an increase of 41.0 percent compared with the same period last year.

The overall sales increase was driven by strong demand in China, the US, and Europe, all of which reported double-digit growth compared with the same period last year when market conditions were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

For the month of June, Volvo Cars sold 68,224 cars globally, up 11.0 percent compared with the same month last year.

For the first six months of 2021, the number of Volvo cars sold online increased more than fivefold compared with the same period in 2020. The overall increase was driven by rising 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, remained popular among customers and accounted for 24.6 percent of all Volvo cars sold globally during the first six months of the year. Compared with the first half of 2020, the share of Recharge models increased by nearly 150 percent.

US sales reached 63,754 cars in the first six months of the year, up 47.4 percent compared with the same period last year. The company’s SUV line-up, led by the XC60, XC90, and the XC40, remained popular in the region, contributing to the volume growth for the period. In June, US sales rose by 18.0 percent to 12,258 cars.

Sales in China reached 95,252 cars in the first half of the year, an increase of 44.9 percent compared with the same period in 2020. Sales for the month of June came in at 16,680 cars, up 10.4 percent.

For the first six months of the year, European sales grew by 35.4 percent, to 166,822 sold cars, compared with the same period in 2020, which was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The increase for the period was mainly led by a strong performance in the United Kingdom. In June, European sales ended up at 28,695 cars, up 1.3 percent.

In New Zealand, Volvo Cars has recorded 391 sales for the first six months of the year.