Amidst stagnating markets of China, USA and Europe, Volvo managed to perform well due to its SUVs
Swedish auto giant Volvo set a new, sixth consecutive global sales record in 2019 after breaking the 7,00,000 sales mark for the first time in its 93-year history. Cumulative sales of the company for 2019 stood at 7,05,452 cars, reflecting an increase of 9.8 per cent as against its performance in 2018. This surpasses the overall market across all regions.
Volvo’s expertise in high-hauling vehicles paid off and substantially helped with the new sales record. Its three SUV models served the right purpose after returning good sales figures amid stagnating markets in China, the US, and Europe. In addition to this, Volvo also recorded a strong positive response for electrified vehicles both in terms of registered sales and as well as in retail orders. The company sold 45,993 plug-in hybrid models last year that showed an increase of 22.9 per cent compared to 2018.
It managed to surpass the 6,42,253 units it sold in 2018 nearly a full month before the year even ended. In December alone, the company reported year-on-year growth of 23.4 per cent with 74,239 models being sold. In the Chinese market, Volvo sold 1,54,961 cars last year, an increase of 18.7 per cent as compared to 2018.
In the US, the German manufacturer managed to sell 108,234 cars, breaking the 100,000 cars sold threshold for the first time since 2007. As against 2018, sales increased by 10.1 per cent. In Europe, Germany showed the strongest sales, where the company sold more than 50,000 cars for the first time in its history.
In the aforementioned markets, the XC60 continues to dominate the chart followed by XC40 and XC90 SUVs. Volvo sold 204,965 units of the XC60, followed by the XC40 at 139,847 cars and the XC90 with sales of 100,729.
Volvo is all set to roll out its Recharge line-up in markets around the globe. The Recharge lineup will hold the company’s electrified models that come with fully-electric and plug-in hybrid powertrains. The company aims to further boost its electrified lineup and encourage plug-in hybrids via incentives to use Pure mode as much as possible. Currently, every model of the company includes a Recharge option, making it the only manufacturer to offer a plug-in variant on every model in its line-up.