Volvo defies sales slowdown for electric vehicles with surge in demand

VOLVO’S sales surged by more than a quarter last month as European motorists flocked to buy its electric cars, defying a slowdown that has hammered some of its rivals.

The Chinese-owned Swedish brand said it sold 65,838 cars in April, up by 27pc on the same month last year.

This takes its sales so far in 2024 to almost 215,000, up 16pc compared with the first four months of last year. The jump stems from a 70pc surge in the sale of fully electric models at Volvo, while overall purchases across Europe were also up by a third.

Volvo’s latest success sets it apart from its peers on the Continent, many of whom have struggled in recent months amid waning demand for EVS.

Volkswagen’s most recent results show that its electric car sales across Europe fell by almost a quarter in the first three months of the year. Global sales for the group, which also owns Audi, Skoda and Porsche, were also down 3pc to 136,400. That was despite sales of its combustion-engine cars climbing 4pc to nearly 2m.

It came after Germany’s government scrapped subsidies for electric cars and the EU froze emissions targets for fleets.

Government policy has also drawn scrutiny in the UK, as last month, the boss of the Vauxhall owner Stellantis criticised rules forcing manufacturers to sell more electric cars. Carlos Tavares said EV sales are “crashing in the world of reality”, claiming regulations that threaten to fine companies for failing to boost EV sales are “terrible for the UK”.

Under the zero-emission vehicle mandate, car manufacturers are given targets to keep expanding EVS as a share of their overall sales volumes. But the cost of electric cars, as well as other concerns such as range anxiety and a lack of charging infrastructure, are putting many customers off.

Mr Tavares said: “The problem is the natural demand of the market today in the UK on EVS is half of the mandate.”

At the same time, fears are growing that European manufacturers are being undercut by unfairly subsidised imports of electric cars from China.

That is despite figures from New Automotive suggesting sales of EVS in the UK are holding up. More than 100,000 new fully electric vehicles have been sold so far this year, according to its Electric Car Count for April.

About 17pc of new sales were fully electric in April, a ratio that has held steady over the past year. Just over a third of sales were hybrid cars, while 42pc were petrol and 6pc were diesel.

Elon Musk’s Tesla leads the battery electric market with more than 46,000 sales over the past year, according to the data analysts.