The Automaker Bucking the Trend on Electric Vehicle Sales

Earlier this year, a quick glance at the way sales of electric vehicles had increased quarter by quarter suggested good things for this share of the auto industry. A report on EV sales at Electrek noted that sales of electric vehicles had been increasing for 13 consecutive quarters — something that sounds like grounds for optimism.

Maybe it’s not that simple. Since that data came to light, several other reports on the auto industry suggested that endless growth of the EV sector wasn’t quite as inevitable as it seemed. Late last month, an article at Insider polled car dealers and found that many buyers were no longer seeking EVs exclusively; instead, potential buyers were evaluating all of their potential options, from electric versions to gas-powered ones.

“I think EV sales are even slower than [manufacturers] actually understand them to be,” one Washington, DC-based car dealer told Insider.

Another cautionary tale came from Norway, where Vox’s David Zipper wrote that the “government has begun to unwind some of its electrification subsidies in order to mitigate the downsides of no-holds-barred EV promotion.”

Are rumors of the inevitability of EVs greatly exaggerated? That depends on who you ask. But at least one automaker seems to be avoiding the pitfalls the rest of the industry is experiencing. As Reuters reports (via Autoblog), Volvo’s sales of electric vehicles rose dramatically in October, while sales of Volvo’s hybrids dropped during the same period.

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As Reuters reports, Volvo’s sales of electric vehicles in October 2023 rose 10% from the same period a year earlier, with fully electric vehicles representing 18% of the automaker’s total sales in October. Overall, Volvo’s sales were up in both the U.S. and Europe for the month of October.

It’s worth noting that Volvo announced an agreement with Tesla to use their Supercharger stations earlier this year, which may have helped get some prospective Volvo EV buyers over the finish line when considering a purchase.