Volvo Cars reports 25% sales drop in April as lockdowns, supply woes weigh

VOLVO Car Group's monthly sales fell 24.8 per cent in April from a year ago, the Sweden-based automaker said on Wednesday (May 4), as lockdowns in China and global supply chain problems hampered production.

The Gothenburg-based company said however that demand remained strong, while the share of fully electric cars rose to 10 per cent from 9 per cent in March. It aims for 50 per cent of its sales to be pure electric cars by the middle of this decade.

"In April, Covid-19 lockdowns in eastern China impacted retail deliveries in China and added more challenges to already weakened global supply chains, resulting in additional loss of production," Volvo said in a statement.

Sales in China at the company, which is majority owned by China's Geely Holding, declined 47.8 per cent in April, while in the United States they fell 9.2 per cent and in Europe 23.2 per cent.

Volvo Cars reported last week forecast-beating profits despite higher costs due to the war in Ukraine, and a global shortage of semiconductors. REUTERS