Month: January 2020

Volvo Cars has now formally opened order books for the XC40 Recharge P8 AWD, the company’s first fully electric car based on the best-selling SUV, in selected markets. Tens of thousands of consumers have shown keen interest in the all-electric XC40 and the company already received several thousands of firm orders even before the formal start of sales. Production and the first customer deliveries of the XC40 Recharge P8 are scheduled to begin later this year. The initial order intake is the latest proof of strong demand for Volvo Cars’ Recharge car line, the name for all Volvos with a fully electric and plug-in hybrid powertrain. The company aims to make all-electric cars 50 per cent of global sales by 2025, with the rest hybrids. Volvo Cars sold almost 46,000 plug-in hybrid cars in 2019, an increase of 23 per cent compared to 2018 and more than double the amount sold in 2017. During the fourth quarter of 2019, plug-in hybrids comprised more than 20 per cent of all Volvos sold in Europe. The company is also seeing strong and continued growth in terms of online customer configurations for Recharge cars, which counted for around a third of all configurations in the region during the fourth quarter of 2019. “It is clear that customers like what they see in our Recharge car line,” said Björn Annwall, head of EMEA and global commercial operations. “Our Recharge cars are everything customers expect from a Volvo, with the addition of a state-of-the-art fully electric or plug-in hybrid powertrain.” The XC40 Recharge P8 is the first of a family of fully electric Volvos. It represents a true milestone for Volvo Cars, as the company’s first fully electric car and the first Volvo with a brand new infotainment system powered by Google’s Android operating system. As a fully electric version of the best-selling XC40 SUV, the first Volvo to win the prestigious European Car of the Year award, the XC40 Recharge P8 is based on the Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), an advanced vehicle platform co-developed within the Geely Group. The all-wheel drive XC40 Recharge P8 offers a range of over 400 km (WLTP) on a single charge and output of 408hp. The battery charges to 80 % of its capacity in 40 mins on a fast-charger system. The new, Android-powered infotainment system offers customers unprecedented personalisation, improved levels of intuitiveness and embedded Google technology and services, such as the Google Assistant, Google Maps and the Google Play Store. The XC40 Recharge P8 also receives larger software and operating system updates over the air. While building on the excellent safety standards of the original XC40, Volvo Cars safety engineers have completely redesigned and reinforced the frontal structure of the Recharge P8 to address the absence of an engine, meet Volvo Cars’ high safety requirements and help keep people as safe as in any other Volvo. The battery is protected by a safety cage embedded in the middle of the car’s body structure. Its placement in the floor of the car also lowers the centre of gravity of the car, for better protection against roll-overs. Inside, an innovative approach to all-round functionality provides drivers with plenty of storage space, for example in the doors, under the seats and in the trunk. Not having an internal combustion engine means the car provides drivers with even more storage space than the regular XC40, via a so-called ‘frunk’ under the front hood.

Volvo Cars has set a new, sixth consecutive global sales record in 2019, breaking the 700,000 cars sold mark for the first time in its 93-year history. The company recorded sales of 705,452 cars in 2019, an increase of 9.8 per cent compared to 2018, solidly outgrowing the overall market across all regions. The new sales record is underpinned by continued strong demand for Volvo Cars’ award-winning line-up. Its three SUV models served as a particular highlight as the company gained market share in China, the US and Europe amid stagnating car markets. The company also registered strong demand for its electrified vehicles, both in terms of registered sales as well as in retail orders. Overall, Volvo Cars sold 45,933 plug-in hybrid models in 2019, an increase of 22.9 per cent compared to 2018 and more than double the number in 2017. “I am very pleased to see that for the first time in our history we sold more than 700,000 cars, while we gained market share in all our main sales regions,” said Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive. “We aim to build on this positive trend in 2020 as we start to roll out our Recharge range of chargeable Volvos.” Illustrating the strength of its portfolio and its sales performance in 2019, Volvo Cars surpassed the previous full-year sales record of 642,253 cars, set in 2018, nearly a full month before the end of the year. December was the company’s best ever sales month, with an 23.4 per cent year-on-year increase to 74,239 cars sold. In China, Volvo Cars sold 154,961 cars in 2019, an increase of 18.7 per cent compared to 2018 and comfortably outperforming the overall market. The result is an all-time record for Volvo Cars in China and the highest sales number it has ever reached in a single market. In the United States, Volvo Cars sold 108,234 cars, breaking the 100,000 cars sold threshold for the first time since 2007. Compared to 2018, sales increased by 10.1 per cent. In Europe, sales were particularly strong in Germany, where the company sold more than 50,000 cars for the first time in its history, while it realised its best sales result since 1990 in the United Kingdom. Other markets that recorded their best ever sales performance in the company’s history included Australia, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Korea, Poland and Portugal. The XC60 SUV continues to be the best-selling car for the company globally, followed by the XC40 and XC90 SUVs, while the sedans and estates in the 90 and 60 Series also contributed to volume growth in China and Europe respectively. This year, Volvo Cars will start to roll out its Recharge line-up in markets around the globe. Recharge will be the overarching name for all chargeable Volvos with a fully electric and plug-in hybrid powertrain. The Recharge car line aims to further boost sales of Volvo Cars’ chargeable cars and encourage plug-in hybrid drivers via incentives to use Pure mode as much as possible. Volvo Cars aims for plug-in hybrid cars to make up 20 per cent of total sales in 2020. Every Volvo model includes a Recharge option, from the small XC40 SUV via the 60 Series cars to the large XC90 SUV flagship. Volvo Cars is the only car maker to offer a plug-in variant on every model in its line-up. Soon, buyers can also opt for the XC40 Recharge P8, Volvo Cars’ first fully electric car. A detailed break-up of regional sales is given below.   December     January-December       2018 2019 Change 2018 2019 Change Europe 29,469 34,224 16.1% 317,838 340,605 7.2% China 11,868 16,908 42.5% 130,593 154,961 18.7% US 8,826 12,360 40% 98,263 108,234 10.1% Other 9,994 10,747 7.5% 95,559 101,652 6.4% Total 60,157 74,239 23.4% 642,253 705,452 9.8% In 2019 XC60 was the top selling model with sales of 204,965 cars (2018: 187,339 cars), followed by the XC40 at 139,847 cars (2018: 75,828 cars) and the XC90 with sales of 100,729 (2018: 94,182 units).