Volvo cars reported 51,286 global car sales in February, also further indicating that more than 40% of these car sales were rechargeable vehicles. The overall sales are 22% more than a year ago. This year’s sales so far amounted to 100,000, which is up by 11% year-over-year.
Furthermore, it is to be noted that the growth is much quicker in the plug-in electric car segment. Last month, Volvo sold 20,678 plug-ins, which is a solid 49 percent increase year-over-year and a very noticeable 40.3 percent of the total volume. Even more interesting is what is happening in the battery-electric vehicle (BEV) segment. Volvo nearly tripled its sales to 9,574 (up 187 percent). In effect, BEV’s share improved to 18.7 percent and is very close to PHEV’s share of 21.7 percent. Sooner or later, all-electric cars are expected to overtake plug-in hybrids – maybe even later this year.
The sales of Volvo Recharge are – BEVS of 9,574 (up 187%) and 18.7% share, PHEVs of 11,104 (up 5%), and 21.7% share. Leading to a total of 20,678 (up 49%) with a 40.3% share. So far this year, Volvo plug-in car sales exceeded 40,000 (up 40 percent year-over-year), which is also more than 40 percent of the total volume. In 2022, Volvo cars sold 205,000 plug-in electric cars which was a third of the total volume. This year, Volvo Recharge car sales might exceed 250,000 or maybe even reach 300,000, if the growth accelerates to 50 percent.
Global sales
Geographically, as usual, most Volvo plug-in cars were sold in Europe (13,698). In the US, in February, sales increased by 45 percent year-over-year to 2,436. Meanwhile, plug-in electric car sales in China increased by 66 percent to 1,130. The strong growth was partially due to the timing of the Lunar New Year which affected sales in February 2022. Recharge models accounted for 9% of the total sales for the month; all-electric sales accounted for 1.3% (172 units). In terms of models, Volvo’s lineup includes two all-electric models, the Volvo C40 Recharge and the Volvo XC40 Recharge. In February, the company sold 6,942 electric XC40s and 2,632 C40s.
Volvo is expected to continue the expansion of its plug-in car sales, especially all-electric ones. The next big thing will be the Volvo EX90 large SUV with a 111-kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery. For those who prefer smaller cars, the company hints at a smaller crossover EX30. The sales growth was led by the company’s Recharge lineup of fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars. The company’s fully electric car sales increased by 187% compared with the same month last year and represented 18.7% (9,574 units) of the total sales in February 2023. In February 2022, the share of all-electrics was only 8% (3,338 units out of 42,067).
