Volvo wades through troubled waters, blames ‘lack of cars’
- Volvo sales in key markets like China and Europe fell sharply in October.
- Volvo says share of EVs in overall sales has increased significantly.
Volvo Car AB reported a sharp decline in global sales in the month of October as the prevailing shortage in semiconductor chip has hit the Swedish company hard. It is reported that sales in China, the world's largest auto market, fell by a third while figures plunged by as much as 21.5% across Europe.
Volvo, in a press statement, blamed lack of cars for the significant dip in sales numbers and pointed to shortage of components for the situation. Much of the performance last month was once again determined by fortunes in China where the company sold 11,006 units, down 34.2% vis-a-vis same month in 2020. In Europe, Volvo sold 22,124 and the company blamed lack of cars. In the US, the automaker sold 8,701 units last month. Overall, 50,815 cars were sold across the world in the month gone by.
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It is not all gloom though because Volvo is still in the green when figures from January to October period of this year are compared to figures from the same period in 2020. In the ten months of this year, the company has sold 581,464 cars which is a rise of 12.6% from the same period in 2020. Another positive development comes in the form of electric vehicles offered by the company. Recharge, for instance, is witnessing increase in demand where already offered. EVs from Volvo now account for 25% of all units sold.
Volvo was scheduled to drive in XC40 Recharge in India but the plans had to be pushed back to early 2022 owing to the semiconductor shortage. On paper at least, there is a lot of potential for the EV to make its mark in the still nascent EV sector here and the company has already revealed plans of launching one EV in India each year. Volvo underlines that India is a key market and appears determined to make the most of the EV segment here, one that is witnessing luxury car makers like Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Jaguar making solid moves.
