Volvo Posts Best-Ever Global Sales Performance

Volvo Cars reports a record revenue for the first six months of 2019 of SEK 130.1 billion (~ P 698 billion), up from SEK 122.9 billion (~ P 659.44 billion) year-on-year and buoyed by the best first half-year sales performance in the company’s history.

For the first six months, sales amounted to a record 340,286 cars, a year-on-year increase of 7.3 percent. During the period, Volvo Cars grew consistently faster than the overall market.

The company has gained market share across the US, China and Europe, with the UK and Germany recording growth of 30 percent and 32 percent respectively. The overall passenger car market in the US declined by 2.0 percent in first half, while China and Europe fell by 9.3 percent and 3.1 percent respectively during the same period.

Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive, emphasized that the company has prioritized growth and market share during the period, capitalizing on the building momentum for the Volvo brand generated by an all-new line-up of award-winning models.

“At a time when most markets in the world see stagnating car sales, we have had strong growth in the first half,” Mr. Samuelsson said. “We continue to take market share in all regions where we operate, but increased pricing pressure and tariffs have decreased our operating profit. The cost measures we took earlier this year will come into effect in the second half of the year.”

In the Philippines, the Volvo market continues to look forward to a positive turn as new models are introduced. The stately Volvo S90 estate, the luxurious Volvo XC90 SUV, and the robust Volvo XC60 SUV continue to bring in interest for the Swedish marque. All these models are now available the Twin Engine Plug-In Hybrid, making Volvo the first premium automaker to do so.

Operating profit for the first half of 2019 was of SEK 5.5 billion (~ P 29.5 billion), compared with a SEK 7.8 billion (~ P 41.85 billion) operating profit for the same period last year. For the second quarter of the year, operating profit fell to SEK 2.6 billion (~ 13.95 billion), while revenue rose to SEK 67.2 billion (~ P 360.5 billion).

The first-half operating margin fell to 4.2 percent from 6.4 percent, while the operating margin for the second quarter of the year amounted to 3.9 percent.

For the remainder of the year, Volvo Cars expects continued growth in sales and revenue, boosted by continued strong demand for the fully renewed product portfolio as well as increased production capacity.

Market conditions are expected to put continued pressure on margins, but the combination of volume growth and cost measures is expected to result in a strengthened profit in the second half of the year compared with the same period last year.