Volvo cars race to record sales in 2017

[STOCKHOLM] Swedish carmaker Volvo, owned by the Chinese Geely, said Thursday that booming demand in China helped it notch up record sales for the fourth consecutive year in 2017.

Volvo Cars said in a statement that it sold a total 571,577 cars worldwide last year, an increase of seven per cent over 2016, thanks to "growth in all regions." The carmaker attributed its strong performance to the success of its 90-series cars and the XC60, presented at the Geneva Auto Show last March.

In regional terms, sales grew by 20.9 per cent in the Asia Pacific region, with sales in China alone up by as much as 25.8 per cent.

Sales in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region were up 3.3 per cent in 2017.

By contrast, sales in the US declined by 1.5 per cent.

Volvo Cars announced in early July that it would launch only electric or hybrid models starting from 2019, promising a "historic end" to vehicles equipped with a combustion engine.

The Gothenburg-based group is the first major manufacturer to plan to electrify all its models and to set a roadmap for the phasing out of the internal combustion engine, a century and a half after its invention.

Volvo Cars has seen a dramatic recovery and strong profit since it was bought by Geely from Ford in 2010.

Volvo's annual results will be published on February 8.

Geely also became the largest shareholder of AB Volvo, the world's number two truck maker, in December, buying shares from the investment firm Cevian Capital at an estimated value of 2.7 billion euros(S$4.32 billion).

While the total amount of the transaction has not been disclosed, Geely signed a cheque for 3.2 billion euros , according to the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.

AFP