2024 was a year of transforming, constantly moving forward, adapting, and improving as the world around us change.
As we close 2024, it’s clear that two major themes have shaped our year: tradition and transformation.
2024 was a year of transforming, constantly moving forward, adapting, and improving as the world around us change.
Nearing our 100th anniversary, we continue to draw from our traditions and heritage in safety, design, and innovation when creating our cars and developing new features. At the same time, we are transforming, constantly moving forward, adapting, and improving as the world around us changes.
Celebrating all things 90
This symbiosis between traditional and modern was evident at our 90/90 event in September. We began shipping the all-electric Volvo EX90 SUV cars to retailers, and unveiled a new version of the iconic XC90 SUV. With extensive technology and design updates, the award-winning and best-selling XC90 hybrid now offers a new-generation user experience with new features, apps, and over-the-air updates.
We announced that, starting with the EX90 – a truly software-defined car – our future electric cars will be built on the Volvo Cars Superset tech stack. It’s a single tech and software base that contains all modules and functionalities that we will use – not unlike building blocks – to create future cars. And we will continuously improve and grow this tech stack.
Since we’re producing the EX90 in our US plant, we invited hundreds of automotive and tech journalists to test drive it on the sunny roads of California. Reviews praised its comfortable and refined interior, state-of-the-art safety features, advanced technology, and the silent yet powerful ride.
Breakout season for our small SUV
At a rigorous winter test drive in Swedish Lapland, media also lauded the EX30 for its handling, driving performance, acceleration, electric range and safety.
In its first full year of production, it became one of the three best-selling electric cars in Europe and won awards like the Red Dot design award and World Urban Car. And the victory lap will continue in 2025, when we aim to start producing the EX30 in our plant in Ghent sometime in the first half of the year.
Awards season
And the awards kept coming! TIME Magazine named our chief executive Jim Rowan one of TIME’s 100 most innovative leaders driving business climate action. Specifically, it highlighted his outstanding contribution to creating sustainable business value while tackling the pressing challenges of climate change.
TIME Magazine also named the driver understanding system, which comes as standard in the EX90, as one of its 2024 Best Inventions. And we’re truly proud of this pioneering safety feature: it uses real-time sensing technology to understand if a driver is impaired, tired, or distracted, so the car can step in to support if needed.
Records and readjustments
We closed 2023 on a high note, setting a new global sales record with over 708,000 cars sold. The momentum continued into 2024, with a new all-time high for global sales in a single month in March (78,970 cars), and our Q2 report showed the best-ever core profit (SEK 8.2 billion) and core profit margin (8.1 per cent) in our 97-year history. And in our Q3 report, our electrified models (fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars) made up 48 per cent of our total sales – the highest in Europe’s premium car industry.
However, in the second half of the year external headwinds increased for the car industry, which affected us as well. This informed our decision, at our Capital Markets Day in September, to adjust our core business ambitions. Instead of aiming for an absolute revenue target, our ambition is now to continue outgrowing the premium car market until 2026.
We also adjusted our electrification ambitions. Instead of aiming to be fully electric by 2030, we now aim for 90 to 100 per cent of our global sales volume by 2030 to be electrified cars – meaning a mix of both fully electric and plug-in hybrid models – to continue to serve our varied, global customer base. Full electrification remains a key part of our strategy, with the long-term aim of becoming a fully electric car company, and reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
New developments
During our annual celebratory Volvo Cars Day, we launched our philanthropic Volvo For Life Fund, a global initiative that supports projects focused on empowering people, restoring and preserving the environment, and providing relief when natural disasters strike.
In our hometown of Gothenburg, we also opened the doors to World of Volvo on 14 April, our company’s birthday. This building in the heart of Gothenburg is an instant design classic, a one-of-a-kind experience centre with a huge exhibition that covers Volvo's past, present, and future, including some of our most iconic cars.
All in all, it’s been a year where we’ve had to navigate a multitude of challenges. But we have a clear strategy with clear objectives, and we’re looking forward to continuing working towards them in 2025.
A big thank you to all our fans and friends for your incredible support this year, and warm holiday wishes from all of us at Volvo Cars.
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