Comparing September sales year-over-year is difficult now because Volvo North America switched recently to reporting USA+Canada sales. But here are the numbers anyway, and my brief analysis.
By far the biggest takeaway if you need just one metric is this: in 2023 Volvo reported EV+PHEV (fully electric + plug-in hybrid) rocketing an astonishing 161% over the September 2022 mark. Fast forward one year and that number is just 11.9%.
That’s why Volvo abandoned their all-EV by 2030 goal. In plain terms they sold more electrified automobiles year-over-year (good!), but the rate of increase dropped off a cliff (bad!). This is not what I predicted, and it’s not what most industry watchers predicted. EVs were supposed to climb the sales ladder at a fast clip and hold that rate for several years until EVs were well above the 25% of all new cars sold mark, roughly predicted to have occurred in the 2025-2027 range. That didn’t happen.
EV sales (all brands) in the US in the second quarter of 2024 were a very mediocre 8% of all new cars. Americans are just not that into EVs compared to European and Asian markets. That’s the result of geography and culture: geographically the US has vast areas of very low- or no-population density (the west), and Americans don’t like to be told what to do, and many Americans feel the government and the US media is telling us to switch to EVs.
In further analysis of Volvo’s September 2024 numbers, it’s clear Volvo is not immune to the wider industry trend of pained sales numbers. Volvo is down 19.5% year-over-year. High interest rates hurt auto sales as much as they hurt home sales. The painful, long delay of the EX30 and EX90 Volvo EV line has not helped.
Hey at least the XC90 was refreshed.
Volvo press release September 2024
MAHWAH, NJ (Oct. 2, 2024) – Volvo Car USA and Canada sold 9,828 cars in September, down 19.5 percent over the same period last year. Sales of electrified models — those with a fully electric or plug-in hybrid powertrain — increased 19.3 percent compared with the same month last year and accounted for 41.4 percent of sales in September. Year to date, sales of electrified models are up 16 percent versus the first nine months of 2023, and accounted for a 34.1 percent share of sales.
Sales in the US reached 8,518 in the month of September, down 22.2 percent over the same period last year. Sales of electrified models increased 11.9 percent over the same period last year and accounted for 40.1 percent of total sales.
Volvo press release September 2023
(MAHWAH, NJ) October 4, 2023 – Volvo Car USA set an all-time September sales record with 10,946 cars sold during the month, beating the previous record of 10,566 cars set in 2005. Sales were up 65 percent compared to the same month last year and it is the fifth consecutive month of growth.
For the first nine months of 2023, the company sold 92,125 cars, an increase of 27.6 percent compared with the same period last year.
The sale of Recharge models—those with a fully electric or plug-in hybrid powertrain—grew 161 percent compared to September last year and comprised a 27.9 percent share.
The Volvo XC90 was the top-selling model with 3,223 cars sold, followed by the XC60 with 3,211, and the XC40 at 2,540 cars. The share of fully electric cars accounted for 10.3 percent of overall sales.
