Volvo had a strong start to 2019 with an increase in sales of 13 per cent year on year, and a growth of four per cent market share in the premium segment. It is the brand's highest market share position in the past decade.
Volvo’s range of SUVs were the bestselling premium SUVs in the month of January. The XC60 was the bestselling SUV in the premium segment, followed closely by its big brother, the XC90.
The XC60 was the strongest performer in the range, with an increase of sales of 49 per cent. The XC60 was crowned the safest car tested by NCAP in 2018. The Volvo’s SUV performance mirrors the company’s global trends. In 2018, Volvo’s XC60 was the company’s top selling global model with sales reaching 189,459 cars (2017: 184,966 units ), followed by the XC90 with total sales at 94,182 cars (2017: 87,518 ).
Alan Cowley, head of sales at Volvo Car Ireland, says it has been a great start to 2019.
"We are very optimistic for the year ahead. The first month is the most important month of the year in terms of car sales and is a good indication as to how the rest of the year should perform. We came into 2019 with a strong order bank.
“Volvo is on a roll in terms of product and awards, particularly looking at our SUVs. The XC60 won World Car of the Year last year, soon after the newly-launched XC40 won European Car of the Year, and we finished 2018 with XC40 being crowned Irish Car of the Year.
"The product is in the best place it’s ever been, and we’ve supported this with some really desirable offers. We were also one of the first manufacturers to have our full range WLTP tested and we absorbed all costs associated with this as opposed to passing them on to the customer,”he says.
The newly-launched XC40 also had a strong January performance, with its recent accolades of 2019 Irish Car of the Year and 2018 European Car of the Year and driving customer demand.
Volvo Cars set a new global sales record in 2018, breaking the 600,000 sales milestone for the first time since the company was founded in 1927. The company’s sales rose 12.4 per cent to 642,253 cars in 2018, compared with the same period the previous year. This is the fifth consecutive year of global sales record for Volvo Cars.
