[STOCKHOLM] Volvo Cars sold 70,737 cars in March, down 10 per cent from a year earlier as sales of fully electric cars tumbled, the Sweden-based company said on Wednesday (Apr 2), sending its shares down.

Volvo Cars, which is majority-owned by China’s Geely, said in a statement sales in Europe were down 9 per cent while in the United States and China they were down 8 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively.

Sales of fully electric cars fell 26 per cent to account for 19 per cent of total sales, while sales of electrified cars as a whole, also including plug-in hybrids, were down 9 per cent to 43 per cent of total sales.

Volvo Cars announced on Sunday it had brought back former CEO Hakan Samuelsson to head the company for the next two years at a turbulent time marked by mounting tariff pressures, replacing Jim Rowan who has run the group since 2022. REUTERS