Market Insight: Volvo upbeat amid sales slide

VOLVO Car Australia is enduring a challenging 2025 with September sales plummeting 33.5 per cent to just 616 units, continuing a downward trend that has seen year-to-date deliveries slide to 5510 units – but the Swedish premium brand remains confident that a wave of new electric vehicles will reverse the decline and push annual sales beyond the 10,000-unit mark.

Based on current trajectories, Volvo is on track to sell approximately 7350 units for the full 2025 calendar year, representing a significant drop from the 8898 vehicles delivered in 2024, although Volvo management expects the year-end total to nudge above the 8000 mark.

Despite the downturn, Volvo Australia managing director Stephen Connor said the brand’s future looks promising thanks to an aggressive electrification strategy centred on the forthcoming EX60 electric SUV, which will be revealed globally on 21 January and arrive in Australia by mid-2026.

Speaking at the recent Australian reveal of the ES90 large electric sedan and EX30 Cross Country small electric SUV, Mr Connor said Volvo Car Australia wants to stabilise its annual sales at the 10,000-plus mark, having grown from 4000 units seven years ago to a peak of about 11,500 cars.

“This year, we will sell probably about 8000 and a bit – next year, we will probably move to closer to 10,000,” he said.

“I think the sweet spot for us is probably 12,000 a year. Your biggest advertising is cars on the road. And with only 4000 cars a year, there’s not a great deal of cars on the road. At 10 to 12,000 annual sales, that's probably where you start to notice, and it starts to do a good job for you.”

Mr Connor said he expects the EX60 to overtake the now eight-year-old XC60 medium SUV as the brand's sales leader sometime in 2027 or 2028.

“I’m really not just hoping – I think the EX60 will be our next best-selling car in Australia,” said Mr Connor.

The XC60 remains Volvo’s biggest seller in Australia despite a 25.1 per cent year-to-date decline to 1905 units, while the larger XC90 has slumped 34.1 per cent to 856 deliveries.

Both SUVs – available with a choice of petrol and plug-in hybrid driveline options – have been given a stay of execution with no end date for their production, and both received MY26 updates including new entry-level Plus variants and high-content Ultra specifications.

The XC40 compact SUV has suffered the steepest decline in Volvo’s line-up, dropping 46.2 per cent to 3142 units year-to-date.

Volvo has discontinued three models in the Australian market – the S60 sedan, V60 Cross Country wagon, and C40 Recharge compact electric coupe-SUV. The 560 C40 sales recorded year-to-date represent run-out stock being cleared.

“We’ve just run out of S60 and V60 Cross Country,” added Mr Connor.

“We decided to do that in Australia because the volumes were dipping, and we wanted to focus on our new models coming through.”

While these models remain on sale in markets like Europe, Mr Connor said it was unlikely a new-generation S60 or V60 would revive the nameplates in Australia given the shrinking sedan and wagon sectors.

Offsetting some of the losses from discontinued and declining models is the new EX30 small electric SUV, which has notched 2129 sales since its introduction earlier this year.

Volvo has also introduced the EX30 Cross Country, priced at $69,990 before on-road costs and expected to account for around 30 per cent of EX30 sales. It replaces the Twin Performance Ultra as range flagship with a ruggedised alternative likely to appeal to Australian buyers.

The recently launched ES90 large electric sedan represents another new model for the brand, with about 40 units arriving in Australia between now and Christmas. The Plus Single Motor is priced at $88,880 + ORC while the higher-spec Ultra Single Motor commands a $19,110 premium.

An upgraded EX90 range is also coming in 2026, featuring revised 800-volt SPA2 architecture for significant gains in charging speed, acceleration, energy efficiency, heat reduction and weight reduction.

Volvo Australia model sales (YTD August 2025)*:

*All sales data supplied courtesy of VFACTS.

†Discontinued in Australia.

Volvo Australia annual sales:

*Sales data supplied courtesy of VFACTS.

^Based on Volvo Car Australia estimates.