Deliveries were up 15% for 2023 with the XC60 and XC40 (picture above) achieving 228,700 and 200,700 respectively. The car side of the business makes up less than one quarter of sales. Plug in hybrids account for 21.5% of the total and electric 16%.
What about regional rechargeable sales? They were up 30%, twice that of total Volvo deliveries. Europe accounts for two thirds of Volvo's total while China is under 6%. In all, 266,000 or 37.5% of Volvo's sales.
Data source: Volvo.
Howdy!
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to accept the C40 as a "car", it is identical to the XC40 apart from the roofline. Its an SUV coupé, like the BMW X4 and X6.
Hi, I think you misread the comment. I said I have now called the C40 the 40 Series, carrying on from the V40 on the chart but then added it was obviously not a car (like the V40 was).
DeleteI believe the present state of the Volvo brand is the best example of successfully realising an upmarket repositioning.
ReplyDeleteAll Volvo had to do was an immense effort in keep improving it product range, probably driven by the fear of being discarded for its Chinese owner (and the example of Saab going down).
Volvo was not the only one, Jaguar did a similar move with their biggest model offensive ever. Though their effort focussed more on quantitative expansion, they also had a big room to grow, with just entering lucrative categories like premium middle class saloon (XE), small and medium SUVs (E Pace), and early adopters of full electric car (I Pace). It is still hard to see how Jag got it so wrong while Volvo succeeded. For me, the biggest difference was timing: Volvo bet on competitive prices with product expansion.
Once the swedes were sure of their position, they considerably raised their prices in Europe. Basically coinciding with production shortages, so their capacity was anyhow curbed.
The modest 5% growth now, outpaced by the 30-40% market growth in the EU should be looked at the much higher revenue (though this should be confirmed by the 2023 financial reports).
Jaguar was always more expensive, staying away from mainstream engines that could have sold well.
Sales has to do with prices, especially on a highly competitive market like the EU.
An interesting summary. Thanks for that.
ReplyDelete