Volvo Cars’ global sales of its plug-in hybrid models jumped by 80 per cent in the first half of the year on the back of strong demand in Europe. This puts Volvo within reach of having its electrified models account for 20 per cent of its global sales.
In Europe, Volvo sold a total of 123,198 vehicles in the first six months of 2020. Of these, 29,918 were plug-in hybrids, accounting for 24 per cent of sales. That’s a significant increase over the 15,643 plug-in hybrids that Volvo shifted last year in Europe, or 9 per cent of the 174,653 vehicles it sold in the first half of 2019.
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Globally, plug-in hybrids accounted for 14 per cent of the Swedish automaker’s sales. In total, it delivered 37,775 PHEVs, up from the 21,015 during the same period in 2019. Auto News reports that 79 per cent of Volvo’s sales were in Europe during the first six months. Plug-in hybrid variants of the V60 and XC40 proved particularly popular.
In China, on the other hand, PHEVs accounted for 3.2 per cent of Volvo’s sales or about 2,100 units, driven primarily by demand for the S90.
Last year, Volvo set a target of having plug-in hybrids account for 20 per cent of its global sales in 2020. Chief executive Hakan Samuelsson says this target is still in sight despite the coronavirus pandemic.
“That [target] definitely has not been halted by the pandemic. Customers are asking for advanced electric cars,” he said. “Revenues [from the sale of plug-in hybrids] have covered the material cost increase from moving to electrification. Long term, what would be really bad for your profitability is trying to sell those old school cars.”
