After a generally great first half of the year, Volvo experienced a sales slump during the middle of 2021. However, the company has high hopes for its Recharge line-up of plug-in hybrid (PHEV) or fully electric vehicles, whose sales continue on an upward trend. This aligns well with the automaker’s vision of being the global leader in the production of electric vehicles.

Volvo’s Recharge line-up, including the best-selling XC60, continues to be popular among consumers.

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Globally, Volvo sold 56,883 cars in July–8.7% fewer than last year’s July figures. The company attributes this decrease to two factors: a dip in European sales, coupled with the comparatively exceptional global sales of July 2020. This period coincided with the revival of dealerships and deliveries following eased COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

The rampant shortage of semiconductors has also affected sales, not to mention the automotive manufacturing sector as a whole.

Volvo sold a total of 437,640 cars around the world from January 2021 to July 2021, a sizable jump of almost 32% from last year’s 332,253 pandemic sales over the same timeframe.

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Volvo’s Recharge line-up gained consistent traction with consumers this past July. The fleet accounted for just over a quarter of all Volvo sales for the month. Even more promising, 43% of the company’s European sales in July alone were Recharge vehicles.

Notably, Volvo hopes to make at least 50% percent of its global sales fully electric cars by 2025, with a view to achieving climate-neutrality as a company by 2040.

According to Volvo’s sales breakdown for the month of July, the XC60 was the top performer at 19,132 cars. The XC40 followed with 15,097 cars sold. The XC90 managed 9,694 total sales. Interestingly, only one of these models, the XC40, was less popular this year than last.

As reported by CarSalesBase, Volvo’s valuation and performance in the European market have increased fairly consistently over the last decade or so. This July, however, sales across the region dropped a remarkable 22% over last July.

The United Kingdom, one of Volvo’s best-performing European markets, reported an altogether different experience, with respectable sales boosting numbers during an otherwise underwhelming month elsewhere on the continent.

The XC40 might not have done as well globally, but in Europe it was the top seller, beating out the XC60. Total European sales for the automaker from January to July 2021 amounted to 189,230 units, up almost 25% over this period in 2020.

China, the world’s largest car market according to Statista, saw sales for July rise just 1% (to 14,550 cars) over figures for July 2020. For the January to July period, however, sales increased by 37% over last year, from 80,151 cars sold during the first half of 2020, to 109,802. The XC60 was July’s top-selling car in China in July, with the S90 coming in second place.

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High demand for the XC60 and XC90 spurred US July sales to increase almost 20% over July 2020 for a total of 11,575 cars. From January to July 2021, US sales rose by an astonishing 42.3% to 75,329 cars, securing the highest increase across all markets compared to the same period last year.

Of these American sales, Volvo’s Recharge models make up more than half of their total sales in California, and just under one-fifth of national sales according to Inside EVs.

Anders Gustafsson, CEO, and President of Volvo Cars USA and Senior Vice President of Volvo Car Americas, said, “After a record-breaking first half of the year for Volvo Cars globally, we are happy with a robust start for the last half of 2021 within the United States. For the rest of the year, our focus will not only be on growing our volume but also getting our customers ready for an electrified future.”

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