Starting 2021 on a strong note, Volvo Cars reported the best January in its history, as Europe, China and the USA all reported increasing sales. Global sales rose by 30.2% to 59,588 cars, boosted by a strong year-on-year performance in China where the company more than recovered losses from earlier Covid-19 shutdowns.

Demand for Volvo Cars’ SUV line-up remained strong and represented 71% of overall volumes, while the popularity of its Recharge line-up of chargeable cars continued to grow. Indeed, the volume of Recharge models more than doubled in January year-on-year, now accounting for 23% of all Volvo cars sold globally.

In China, sales grew by 91.3% to 19,160 cars in January, as Volvo Cars’ biggest market more than recovered from a pandemic-related sales drop in the first month of last year. The sales increase in China was helped by strong overall market demand, but also boosted by a sales ramp-up of the company’s XC40 compact SUV and the S60 saloon.

US sales reached 8,151 cars in January, an increase of 32.4% compared with January 2020. The company’s SUV line-up, led by the XC90, drove the strong sales increase.

European sales for January increased by 9.0% to 24,857 cars sold, helped by strong performances in key markets such as Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands. Recharge cars accounted for 41% of total European sales.

In January 2021, the XC40 was the company’s top-selling model, with 17,770 cars sold (2020: 10,802 units), followed by the XC60 with 17,053 cars (2020: 13,353 units) and the XC90 with sales of 7,564 cars (2020: 6,902 units).