Volvo Cars today reported sales of 49,536 cars in September, up 4.5 per cent compared with the same month last year. Overall underlying demand for the company’s cars remains robust, especially for its Recharge range of pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars.

The company’s line of Recharge models represented 31.9 per cent of the sales last month, with fully electric vehicles accounting for 12.6 per cent of sales. 

Manufacturing output, which had seen a normalisation trend in previous months, continued to be impacted in September by plant closures due to Covid-19 outbreaks in China, as well as global disruptions in the supply chain.

During the January-to-September period, Volvo Cars’ retail sales reached 428,987 cars, down 19.2 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The number of active subscriptions at the end of September had increased by 67 per cent compared with the same period last year. And for the first nine months of 2022, the number of Volvo cars sold online increased by 46 per cent compared with the same period in 2021. This growth was driven by customer demand in combination with a broadened offer in more markets.

European sales for September reached 19,358 cars, up 7 per cent compared with the same month last year. Sales of Recharge cars accounted for 57.9 per cent of the total sales in the region during the month.

Volvo Cars’ US sales for the month reached 6,627, down 29.1 per cent compared to September last year, with Recharge models making up 17.6 per cent of the total sales.

China sales increased by 53.1 per cent in September to 14,845 cars compared with the same month last year.

Volvo Cars’ top-selling model for the month was the XC60 with sales of 15,621 cars (2021: 14,992 units), followed by the XC40 at 14,497 cars (2021: 11,986) and the XC90 at 7,380 cars (2021: 8,508 units).