Volvo Cars sold a record number of cars in March, boosted by the launch of its fully electric small SUV, the Swedish company said today, sending its shares up 4% in early trade.
Sales for March rose by 25% from a year earlier to 78,970 vehicles, the highest number Volvo Cars has achieved for any single month, while first-quarter sales overall rose by 12%.
The company, majority-owned by China's Geely Holding, said in a statement that sales of fully electric cars were up 43% and accounted for 23% of all sales globally last month.
"We are making good progress towards our annual sales target of at least 15% growth and in the months ahead we will focus on ramping up sales of our EX30," Volvo Cars said in a statement, referring to its recently launched small SUV.
The company said in January that it remained confident of "tremendous growth" in the electric vehicles (EV) market. It expects EVs to account for half of its sales volumes by the middle of the decade and to sell only EVs by 2030.
Total sales in Europe, Volvo Cars' biggest market, grew by 33% in March, with sales of fully electric cars increasing by 66% from a year ago.
In the US, total sales rose by 50%, lifted by plug-in hybrid models, but sales of fully electric cars declined by 66%.
For the first quarter, overall sales rose by 12% year-on-year, driven by a 27% rise in fully electric cars.
By contrast, rival EV maker Tesla on Tuesday posted a decline in quarterly deliveries for the first time in nearly four years and missed Wall Street estimates, sending its share price down as price cuts failed to stir demand.
