ANN/CHINA DAILY – Volvo, the Swedish automaker, is planning to introduce its inaugural electric multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), the EM90, in November, a high-ranking executive said.
Senior Vice-President of Volvo and Chief Executive Officer of Volvo Asia-Pacific Yuan Xiaolin said the MPV category is rapidly expanding in China, which has held the title of the world’s largest vehicle market since 2009.
Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that MPV sales in the country totalled 524,000 units in the first half of the year, up 21.6 per cent year-on-year.
Yuan said Volvo sold 92,000 vehicles in China from January to July, up eight per cent year-on-year.
The carmaker saw its market share go up to 6.1 per cent in the January-July period, up 0.2 percentage points from the same period last year.
Its sales of electric vehicles soared 67 per cent year-on-year in the first seven months this year.
Volvo now has a number of new energy vehicles, including XC40 Recharge, the C40 Recharge as well as EX90.
It has been expanding its charging network, with the number of charging piles expected to reach 500,000 units by the end of the year in 330 cities across the country.
Volvo, acquired by Chinese carmaker Geely from Ford in 2010, has China as its largest market since 2014.