2024 was the most successful year ever for Volvo, but the beginning of 2025 does not show continued sales growth. According to the company, in 2024 the Swedish brand sold 8% more cars than in 2023.

The start of the year for Volvo was not expected, at least that is what the sales results for January show. Although the Swedish brand expected continued sales growth, the opposite happened, and in the first month Volvo managed to sell only 50,820 vehicles worldwide. However, the company hopes that hybrids and EVs will play a major role in the future, which can be inferred from the growth in demand for these cars.

In January, Volvo delivered 22,398 hybrids and EVs, which is 17 percent more than in the same month a year earlier. Customers mostly chose PHEV models (12,693 units), which accounted for 28 percent of total sales. On the other hand, EVs were less in demand, but still registered a growth of 5% (9,705 units).

The best-selling mmodel was the XC60 (18,972 units), followed by the XC40/EX40, while the least demanded was the XC90, which recorded a drop in demand compared to January 2024.

It should also be noted that the demand for cars with combustion engines and mild hybrids has fallen. They recorded a 17 percent drop in demand compared to 2024.

Volvo is one of those manufacturers that strongly believes in the future of EVs, and they showed that in October 2024 when they announced that the EU must not abandon the ban on the sale of ICE cars after 2035. They and 49 other car companies have signed a declaration with which they unreservedly support the EU decision, even though they announced that they will continue to produce cars with combustion engines after 2030, but they will have mild hybrid systems and will be produced in limited series.

Source: Volvo

The Ghent plant is one of the most profitable facilities of the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo, where EX40/XC40 models are produced. It is a subcompact luxury crossover SUV that arrived on the market in 2017, and a few days ago, the company announced that one million XC40s left this plant.

Aside from conventional petrol and diesel engines, a plug-in hybrid model was introduced in 2019, and a battery electric vehicle model was released a year later. Both the plug-in hybrid and the battery electric versions were marketed as the XC40 Recharge. In 2024, Volvo renamed the battery electric XC40 to the Volvo EX40, aligning it with newer battery electric models such as the EX30 and the EX90.

In 2023, the XC40 was Volvo’s second best-selling model, after the XC60, while increased demand for the smaller model, the EX30, in early 2024 pushed the XC40 into third place.

In April, Volvo announced that it was moving the production of the EX30 model to its factory in Ghent, with which this plant will reach its maximum production capacity. Last year, about 230,000 units left the factory in Ghent, of which 60 percent were electric cars.

Source: Volvo