Volvo sales tumble in July

China sales at Volvo Car Corp. have contracted for four straight months, with July volume plunging 31 percent year over year to 9,775.

The sales slump was mainly caused by shrinking demand for Volvo’s gasoline models, according to numbers the Swedish carmaker disclosed Aug. 2.

Last month, Volvo delivered 8,645 gasoline vehicles in China, a 34 percent fall from a year earlier. 

Its local sales of full electric and plug-in hybrid products dipped 3 percent to 1,130 in the month. The volume consists of 298 EVs and 832 plug-in hybrids.

For the first seven months, Volvo’s China deliveries dropped 5 percent to 87,937. 

In 2023, the Swedish carmaker’s annual sales in the Chinese market rose 5 percent from a year earlier to reach a record high of 170,091.

After the Biden administration raised tariffs on China-made EVs to more than 100 percent earlier this year, Volvo postponed shipment of the EX30 electric crossover from the China to the U.S.

The EX30 is only built at Volvo’s Zhangjiakou factory in China. Next year, it will also be produced at Volvo’s plant in Ghent, Belgium.