With supply chains unclogged and plenty of pent up demand, Volvo Cars sold a record number of cars in 2023.
The Geely-owned luxury car manufacturer sold 708,716 cars throughout the world last year, a 15 per cent jump from 2022’s figure of 615,121.
Model breakdown
Crossovers, predictably, led the way with this vehicle class (574,618) notching up an 18.3 per cent gain over 2022, and accounting for 81.1 per cent of all sales.
While all the podium places being claimed by high-riding wagons, the company’s traditional wagons languished at the bottom of the heap, saved from the wooden spoon only by the EX30 which entered production late in the year.
Traditional wagons were down 4.6 per cent. Even then their numbers were boosted by the raised and off-road-styled Cross Country variants, which accounted for 26.7 per cent of V60 sales, and 49.9 per cent of V90 sales.
By contrast sedan sales actually rose a bit.
| Model | 2023 | 2022 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| XC60 | 228,646 | 195,338 | +17.1% |
| XC40 | 200,670 | 169,206 | +18.6% |
| XC90 | 107,549 | 97,130 | +10.7% |
| S90 | 49,283 | 42,910 | +14.9% |
| S60 | 40,153 | 39,503 | +1.6% |
| C40 | 37,114 | 24,213 | +53.3% |
| V60 | 30,438 | 32,077 | -5.1% |
| V90 | 14,224 | 14,740 | -3.5% |
| EX30 | 639 | 0 | N/A |
Electrification
Volvo has a long-stated aim to be a fully electric brand by 2030, and all of its new model releases from 2023 onwards will only sport pure electric drivetrains.
Last year Volvo sold 113,419 pure electric vehicles (EVs), up 69.9 per cent from 2022, and accounting for 16.0 per cent of total sales.
The majority of EVs (66.5 per cent of 75,476 units) were sold in Europe, while the US came in second with 13,609 sales. Surprisingly Volvo China managed just 3281 EV sales.
This was accompanied by 152,561 plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) globally, up 10.1 per cent from 2022. PHEVs made up 21.5 per cent of the company’s sales volume.
Again Europe was responsible for buying the most PHEVs (63.6 per cent or 97,099 units), with the US accounting for a further 22,048 cars, and China registering 12,075 vehicles.
All up, EVs and PHEVs accounted for 37.5 per cent of Volvo’s total sales.
Regions
Although Volvo’s China-based manufacturing and development has increased over the years, Europe still remains the cornerstone for the brand. The region made up 41.6 per cent of Volvo’s total numbers, and sales there rose 19.2 per cent to 294,794.
China (170,091) was second, with sales up 4.8 per cent, and the US (128,701) third, up 26.1 per cent.
Australia’s 2023 VFACTS industry sales report showed 11,128 Volvos were sold here last year, a record result for the brand on the local market.
