Yuan Xiaolin, senior vice-president of Volvo and president and CEO of Volvo Asia-Pacific, answers questions from journalists at an event in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Aug 24, 2023. [Photo by Li Fusheng/chinadaily.com.cn]
Swedish carmaker Volvo will unveil its first electric MPV, the EM90, in November, said a senior executive on Thursday.
Yuan Xiaolin, senior vice-president of Volvo and president and CEO of Volvo Asia-Pacific, said the MPV segment is fast growing in China, the world’s largest vehicle market since 2009.
Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that MPV sales in the country totaled 524,000 units in the first half of the year, up 21.6 percent year-on-year.
Yuan said Volvo sold 92,000 vehicles in China from January to July, up 8 percent year-on-year.
The carmaker saw its market share go up to 6.1 percent in the January-July period, up 0.2 percentage points from the same period last year.
Its sales of electric vehicles soared 67 percent year-on-year in the first seven months this year. Volvo now has a number of new energy vehicles, including XC40 Recharge, the C40 Recharge as well as EX90.
It has been expanding its charging network, with the number of charging piles expected to reach 500,000 units by the end of the year in 330 cities across the country.
Volvo, which was acquired by Chinese carmaker Geely from Ford in 2010, has China as its largest market since 2014.