Volvo Cars reported a 6% year-on-year increase in sales for July, with a total of 57,447 cars sold, driven primarily by a rise in fully electric vehicle sales in Europe.
The Sweden-based automaker, majority-owned by China’s Geely Holding, announced that its total sales in Europe, which remains its largest market, surged by 40%. In contrast, sales in the United States and China declined by 11% and 31%, respectively.
“We are pleased to report another month of sales growth, largely driven by strong performance in Europe despite the generally challenging market conditions,” said Deputy CEO and Chief Commercial Officer Bjorn Annwall in a statement.
Sales of fully electric and plug-in hybrid models saw a significant increase of 49% compared to the same period last year, with Europe being a key driver. These models accounted for 49% of all Volvo Cars sold in July.
Despite the positive sales report, the company’s shares dropped by 0.7% as of 0724 GMT, though this was still better than the overall performance of Stockholm’s benchmark stock market index, which was down by 2%.
Volvo Cars has set a goal to have electric vehicles make up half of its sales by mid-decade and aims to transition to selling only electric vehicles by 2030.
