Volvo Cars posts record 33% rise in half-yearly sales in India

About 40 per cent of the total sales of Volvo in the country comprise XC60 — a comparatively powerful member of the XC family. With XC40, the company is targeting younger buyers and those who may have never owned a luxury car.

Volvo Cars, headquartered on Torslanda in Gothenburg, Germany, and a subsidiary of Chinese automotive company Geely Automobiles, had sold 2,000 units in India in the whole of last year.

The robust sales performance of 1,242 units is spearheaded by the XC60 which contributed 25 per cent of the total volume, Volvo Cars India said in a statement.

Besides, an addition of S90 to the local assembly, aggressive network expansion and brand engagement programmes led to the best-ever half-yearly sales performance for the company, it added.

“We are extremely happy with our growth pace and intend to keep up the momentum for the rest of 2018. The recently launched XC40 is our first offering in the entry level SUV segment and we expect the XC40 to build a new customer base for us and drive sales,” Charles Frump, managing director of Volvo Car India, said.

Volvo earlier launched the XC40 SUV in India for a starting price of Rs 39.90 Lakh (ex-showroom, India). This is the first entry level luxury SUV from Volvo, which happens to be the fastest growing segment in India. Hence Volvo is expecting some good sales from XC40, for the rest of the year.

Volvo registered 28 per cent growth in 2017, their highest ever in India. But with the XC40, they are expecting a bigger jump in yearly sales

German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz also on Friday reported a 12.4 per cent increase in its half-yearly sales in India at 8,061 units.

Rival BMW reported a 13 per cent growth in the sales of BMW and MINI brand of cars at 5,171 units during the January-June period this year.

Globally, Volvo Cars has reported record sales for the first half of 2018 of 317,639 cars, an increase of 14.4 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The robust first half performance places the company firmly on course to report another year of record sales for the full year. Volvo Cars reported sales of 571,577 cars in 2017.

All the key regions of the US, China and Europe reported steady growth during the six-month period.

Sales in the US grew 39.6 per cent on the back of the bestselling XC60 and XC90. Overall volumes in the first half of the year were 47,622 compared to 34,102 in the same period last year.

China, Volvo Cars’ largest single market, grew by 18.4 per cent on strong demand for the locally-produced XC60 and S90. During the period, sales hit 61,480 compared to 51,914 in the corresponding period last year.

Europe reported solid 5.7 per cent growth in the first half to 164,480 cars compared to 155,653 in the same period in 2017, driven by demand for the new XC60, the 90 Series cars and the new XC40 small SUV.