For the three-month period ended December 31, 2018, sales by Autoliv grew 1.6% to $2,193m.

Operating income dived 92% to $21m.

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Operating margin declined to 1%, primarily due to an accrual for the remaining portion of the EC antitrust investigation. The adjusted operating margin was 10.9%.

For full year 2019, the indication is for organic sales to increase by around 5% and adjusted operating margin to be around 10.5%.

Mikael Bratt, president & CEO, said: "I am pleased with our sales growth, order intake and cash flow in the quarter and full year, especially considering that the automotive environment turned increasingly challenging towards the end of the year.

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"We grew organically by more than 4% in the fourth quarter, despite a fall in light vehicle production of more than 5%, according to IHS.

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"Our outperformance was mainly due to the high number of product launches in North America and China. We outgrew light vehicle production organically by almost 20% in North America and by 11% in China. For full year 2018, we grew organically by close to 5% while light vehicle production declined by about 1%. The launches remain on schedule, with good delivery precision albeit still with elevated launch related costs.

"Our order intake continued on a high level, supporting our growth opportunities also beyond 2020. We estimate that Autoliv was able to book around 50% of the available order value in 2018, making 2018 the fourth consecutive year of booking around or more than 50% of available order value.

"Although light vehicle production in the fourth quarter was significantly below earlier expectations, we met our indication of 10.5% adjusted operating margin for the full year 2018, in part due to the high degree of flexibility in our Chinese operations."

Autoliv expects another EC fine