WITH the introduction of the new S40 saloon and V50 Sportswagon, plus the continued success of the XC90, Volvo achieved increased sales and market share in nearly every market it serves around the world in 2004, with global sales increasing by 10 per cent over 2003, to a new record level of 456,224 cars sold.
"Our goal of selling 450,000 cars has finally been passed and we feel that our long-term aim of 600,000 cars a year is now within reach," says Hans-Olov Olosson, President and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation.
1 in 3 Volvos go to America: Record sales of almost 140,000 Volvos in America (+ 3.5 per cent over 2003) and over 11,000 in Canada, makes North America Volvo's largest market with one in every three Volvo cars made in 2004 going to customers across the Atlantic.
In its second full year in production, the XC90 became Volvo's best-selling model globally, as well as in the UK. A total of over 84,000 XC90s was sold in 2004, with 7,178 (or 8.5 per cent) of these registered to UK customers. Across the Atlantic in the native homeland of the SUV, the XC90 accounted for over 28 per cent of US sales (39,630). With the introduction of the new Volvo V8 engine in late 2004, total sales of the XC90 are predicted to grow further in 2005.
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