The luxury car market in India had been suffering even before the COVID-19 pandemic tightened its grip around the world by the first quarter of 2020. The year 2019 witnessed the biggest fall in luxury car sales in over a decade. With lowering of GST, import duties, and registration taxes, it was expected that the market would bounce back healthily, but the onset of the pandemic shattered any such hope.
There was a slight glimmer of hope during the festive season of 2020, but the second wave of COVID-19 put a sheet of gloom on the industry sentiment again for a brief period. Despite that and supported by the momentum that the industry gained in 2020, the luxury car market has shown signs of recovery.
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Volvo Car India released a statement sharing its sales figures for the first half of 2021. In the period spanning January till June, Volvo sold 713 units as against 469 cars in the same period last year. It’s a 52% y-o-y rise and its mid-size SUV, XC60, was the primary driver of growth. Volvo also launched the full electric version of its small SUV, XC40, to ride on the wave of popularity around EVs.
Jyoti Malhotra, MD, Volvo Car India, said, “A 52% growth in the high-end luxury mobility during a highly depressed consumer sentiment phase and major COVID restrictions in the marketplace shows the confidence that the Indian consumer has in brand Volvo. Despite uncertain conditions, it has been a good first half for the company giving us a strong base as we move forward in the year and bring new products to our consumers.”
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Volvo reflected this growth globally as well by moving 380,757 units to customers across the world (a 41% increase over last year) which is its highest ever first-half year sales.
