AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)07/04 Report--

Under the impact of COVID-19, which has been sweeping for more than half a year this year, the major car companies have been affected to varying degrees, so that many multinational car companies have valued the performance of the Chinese market. Thanks to the rapid recovery in the Chinese market, the decline in Volvo brand sales has narrowed significantly in the first half of this year, with two major year-on-year growth in China and the United States in June.

According to the latest Volvo sales figures, global sales reached 61483 in June, although it is still slightly down 2.1 per cent from a year earlier, but it has narrowed significantly from the year-on-year declines of April (- 43.8 per cent) and May (- 25.5 per cent). As a result, Volvo's decline narrowed to 20.8 per cent in the first half of this year from a year earlier, to 269962 new vehicles.

Although there are signs of decline in both monthly and full-year sales for Volvo, Volvo is also the first luxury brand in China to announce new car sales.

According to Volvo, a strong rebound in China, coupled with the relaxation of US measures to prevent and control the COVID-19 epidemic, has helped the market recover significantly. As Volvo's two largest single markets, China and the United States sold 15105 new cars respectively, up 14% and 10385 respectively from a year earlier, up 4.5% from a year earlier. China is still the largest single market and the biggest increase.

For Europe, Volvo's largest market, European sales showed signs of recovery as countries gradually lifted the embargo, falling 6.5 per cent to 28277 vehicles in June from a year earlier, an improvement from the 50 per cent drop in May.

In terms of Volvo's June model, the best-selling model is still the SUV model, with the largest number of Volvo XC60 selling 17697 vehicles, while the Volvo XC40 ranked second in June sales with 17492 vehicles. But it was not the Volvo XC60 that helped the Volvo brand grow the most, but the help of two other models, the US-made Volvo S60, the Belgian and Chinese-made Volvo XC40, with year-on-year growth of 73 per cent and 51 per cent, respectively.

It is worth mentioning that just a few days ago, Volvo officially announced that it would recall nearly 2.2 million cars made in 2006, including the V60, V70 and XC60 models, due to a problem with the connection of the front seat belt cables, resulting in the largest recall in Volvo's history.

Although the cause of the recall does not involve the issue of major components, and the voluntary recall also proves Volvo's responsibility, such a simple quality problem has become the cause of Volvo's recall. There is no doubt that consumers have some safety questions about Volvo cars. I do not know whether the quality has been relaxed because of the decline in Volvo's profits. According to the discount of some models, the maximum discount of XC90 is 130000 yuan, the maximum discount of XC60 is 110000 yuan, and the discount range of XC40 is also 60, 000 yuan. It can be said that Volvo is increasing its sales through the strategy of "price for volume".

After all, the Volvo brand has always had a reputation for "safety", and do not lose Volvo's core competitiveness because of falling profits, otherwise it is a choice that the losses outweigh the gain.

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