Volvo Cars reported global sales of 141,609 cars in the third quarter of 2026, down 10.7% from the same period last year. Sales during the quarter were impacted by a further deterioration in market conditions in China, where industry volumes remained under significant pressure, as well as a slower-than-expected recovery in the U.S.

As a result, Volvo Cars has announced that it doesn’t retain its 2026 forecast: “An increasingly challenging market situation and deteriorating near-term market outlook have resulted in lower-than-expected sales and a weaker full-year outlook for Volvo Cars. Therefore, Volvo Cars will not fulfill the previous full-year 2026 outlook statements on volume and cash flow.”

Problems in China and the U.S.

“The market downturn in China showed no signs of easing, and the recovery in the U.S. premium segment remained below our earlier expectations,” said Erik Severinson, Chief Commercial Officer at Volvo Cars. “This impacted our third-quarter sales, and the same challenging market conditions have led third-party analysts to lower their sales forecasts for the premium car market for 2026.”

In the Greater China region, deliveries stood at 20,284 cars, down 40.6% compared with the same period last year. Sales were affected by growing competitive and pricing pressure from local manufacturers, as well as the subdued macroeconomic environment. The premium car market in China remained under pressure, with volumes falling sharply by double digits.

In the Americas, sales fell 14% to 30,777 cars. The decline was driven by continued weak consumer sentiment, increasing competitive pressure in the SUV segment and a high comparative base from last year, when sales of electrified cars rose before the expiry of consumer subsidies. Sales were also impacted by the slow recovery in demand for fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars.

Europe remains resilient

Meanwhile, performance in Europe remained resilient, supported by strong demand and order intake for fully electric cars. The company’s sales of fully electric models grew by 29% and accounted for 32% of all cars sold. Sales of electrified models, including fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars, represented 53% of all cars sold during the quarter.

“In Europe, we continue to see strong demand for our new cars, led by the EX60 and our recently launched long-range plug-in hybrids,” said Erik Severinson. “We are now focused on ramping up production of the EX60 and starting production of the new long-range plug-in hybrids.”

In Europe and RoW (Rest of the World), retail deliveries remained steady, with sales of 90,548 cars, up 2% from the same period last year. This was driven by a 51% increase in fully electric car sales. Overall, electrified model sales rose 12% and accounted for 64% of all cars sold in the region.

No forecast

As a result of increased market uncertainty, Volvo Cars has also decided not to provide any updated short-term forward-looking statement.

“Volvo Cars is taking further decisive actions to improve and accelerate execution of our strategic roadmap in this challenging environment and will share more details when it reports its third quarter financial results on October 23,” the company said.

“The removal of short-term forward-looking statements has no impact on the long-term strategic ambitions laid out during the recently held Strategy Update of reaching strong positive cash flows and structurally building a company delivering an 8% EBIT margin,” Volvo Cars added.

Stefan Fesser back in Ghent

Last month, Volvo cleared the doubts hanging around its production site in Ghent. Despite the start-up of the completely new plant in Kosice (Slovakia), Volvo sees enough volume staying in Ghent to keep the factory running. In the future, cars from other brands in the Geely holding could therefore be produced in Ghent.

Last Friday, Volvo announced that Magnus Nilsson, who has led the factory since the beginning of the year, has been recalled to Göteborg and assigned to lead Volvo production worldwide.

In his place, an old acquaintance is returning. From 2018 to 2025, Stefan Fesser was CEO of Volvo Ghent, where he introduced the EX40, EC40, and EX30. During that period, the plant also integrated battery assembly into its operations.

Now, Fesser starts his second term in Ghent and will be responsible for turning the Volvo site into a multi-brand production site within the Volvo organization. In recent months, Fesser also served on the working group meeting with the Federal and Flemish governments about the future of Volvo Car Gent.