On March 6, Volvo cars unveiled its blockbuster XC40, V60 and Polestar1 models at this year's Geneva motor show, setting the tone for 2018.
The XC40 and V60 will be imported to China this year, with the XC40 expected to be made at Volvo Road and Bridge Plant in late 2018. Volvo CEO Hanken Samuelson said that with the XC40 on the market, Volvo's sales growth is expected to pick up further, and that it is not impossible to meet its target of 800,000 cars a year by 2020.
In addition to traditional fuel cars, in the new energy vehicles, Volvo this year will also send force. According to the National Business Daily, Volvo's new energy vehicles have not performed well in China due to the influence of lithium-ion batteries and other factors, and the effective solution of the battery and other problems will make Volvo's sales of new energy vehicles in China this year expected to be greatly improved.
Sales growth limited by production?
At this year's Geneva motor show, Volvo had high hopes for its all-new XC40. Volvo believes that the car's market performance will be an important factor affecting whether Volvo can achieve its sales target of 800,000 units in 2020.
Data show that in 2017, Volvo sold 571,600 cars globally, up 7% year on year, and its sales in China exceeded 110,000 cars, up 25.8% year on year. Global sales growth of less than 10 per cent will make it difficult to reach its target of 800,000 vehicles by 2020.
The National Business Daily calculated that if the sales growth rate is only 7% in the next few years, Volvo's global sales will reach 690,000 cars by 2020, which is 110,000 cars short of its target of 800,000, meaning Volvo must seek new breakthroughs at this stage.
"Our sales are very much in line with our production." Hanken Samuelson told the National Business Daily that sales growth had been limited to a certain extent because production had been running short. With the production release of luqiao plant in China and new plants in the United States, Volvo's future sales growth has a lot of room to improve.
New models, especially high-volume ones such as the XC60 and XC40, will also provide a significant boost to Volvo's sales, Mr. Hanken Samuelson said. So Volvo's sales target of 800,000 cars by 2020 is well within reach.
The power lithium ion battery has been switched to domestic
In the face of future development, new energy vehicles are also listed as a key development object of Volvo. In July last year, Volvo unveiled an aggressive new energy vehicle strategy, in which all of its new cars from 2019 will be pure electric or hybrid.
However, According to Hanken Samuelson, 2017 does not seem to be a smooth year for Volvo's new energy vehicle development, especially in the Chinese market.
He explained to the National Business Daily that at present, Volvo's new energy models are mainly plug-in hybrids, and subsidy policies for such models vary in different parts of China. In addition, Volvo's previous new energy vehicles mainly use foreign brands such as LG's power lithium-ion batteries, and according to relevant policies, must use China's domestic power lithium-ion batteries to obtain new energy subsidies. The above two reasons affect the promotion of Volvo new energy vehicles in the Chinese market.
Hanken Samuelson stressed that Volvo has completed the power lithium ion battery switch in China, through the parent company Geely supplier channel, Volvo has started to use domestic power lithium ion battery, to meet the requirements of local new energy subsidy policy. Therefore, this year Volvo in the Chinese market of new energy vehicle sales may have a greater rise.
In addition, Volvo's electric vehicle brand Polestar will further develop in the Chinese market this year. According to the plan, Polestar brand will play a pioneering role in electrification technology within the Volvo car system, carrying the leading electrification technology, which will soon be used in new energy vehicles under the Volvo brand.
In the future, Polestar will also be based in Shanghai, Hanken Samuelson said. Polestar is currently recruiting new investors to secure more development capital through equity deals to ensure continued investment in electric technology.
According to Hanken Samuelson, Volvo is well on its way to achieving both its 2020 sales target and its goal of electrification beyond 2019.
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