Author: Matthew H Tong
Volvo’s consecutive years of charting record growth has been abruptly disrupted by the novel coronavirus outbreak, and in the first quarter of 2020 it sold 131,889 cars globally. That’s a drop of 18.2% compared to the same period last year.
Last month, the Swedish brand sold 46,395 cars, down 31.2% compared to the March 2019, mostly due to weaker demand in Europe and the US. It sold 70,510 cars in Europe, down 18.5% from Q1 2019, and shifted just 19,485 cars in the US, representing a reduction of 11.7%. Both these markets are expected to deteriorate further as they battle the rampaging Covid-19 outbreak.
On the flip side, the China market is currently showing signs of recovery, with Volvo claiming that showroom traffic is improving. In China, Volvo sold 20,780 cars, a 30.5% drop from the same period last year. Some provinces which began easing movement restrictions in the beginning of March have seen an increase of activity in dealerships, and Volvo has also reopened four of its manufacturing plants in China.
A breakdown for the total number of cars Volvo sold globally in Q1 2020
For Q1 2020, the Volvo XC60 was the best-selling model with 36,930 units sold (down from 46,259 units in Q1 2019), followed by the XC40 (34,268 units; up from 28,903 cars) and XC90 (18,327 units; down from 22,073 cars).
Its SUV range accounted for 67.9% of the total sales in the first quarter (up from 60.3% in Q1 2019), while the Recharge plug-in hybrid line-up stood at 14.7%, nearly doubling last year’s first quarter figure of 7.4%.
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