New trim, engine and gearbox choices have helped Volvo buck sales trends in the UK, the automaker said on Thursday.
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While the overall UK car market was off just short of 3% year on year to the end of July (to 1,443,576 units), Volvo posted an increase of almost 20% from 17,709 units in January to July 2007 to 21,155 for the same period this year.
Volvo said the new, sporty R-design package option for C30, S40 and V50 models had been well received here in the UK.
Current top model performers are the C30, with a sales increase of 96% year on year and the V50, the brand’s best-selling model (small premium wagons are a popular UK buyer choice), which has already outperformed its full year 2007 results of 5,576 units, and is up 93% with 6,151 registrations year to date.
“We’ve experienced a high level of interest in the Volvo range this year and we are confident this strong performance will continue throughout the rest of 2008,” said UK sales director Nick Connor.
He said new two-litre versions of the V70 and S80, a new ‘Powershift’ gearbox for the C30, C70, S40 and V50 and the new sub-225g/km CO2 emissions XC90 D5 Geartronic further widened model choice this year, and appealed to both private and company car buyers.
End user fleet sales were up 67.7% to the end of July (6,405 cars vs 3,819).
The S40 and V50 made the biggest improvement following a mild refresh last year, a specification realignment to enable easier like-for-like comparisons with premium competitors, and the introduction of the new R-design trim.
These two models also recorded the largest fleet sales increase in the range, with S40 up 86% percent and the V50 up 176%.
