Volvo’s SC-made EX90 finds an overseas market as automaker’s global sales rise

Volvo Cars set a global sales record in 2024 with electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids accounting for nearly half of all customer purchases, as the Lowcountry-built EX90 is establishing a better market overseas than in its home country.

The automaker said this week it sold 763,389 cars worldwide last year for a 7.7 percent increase over 2023.

Sales in the U.S., lagged the previous year’s total by 2.7 percent.

Mike Cottone, president of Volvo Car USA, said the automaker “continued to see demand from our customers for our cars through the end of the year, especially for our electrified models,” pointing to a late-year sales surge that helped offset earlier declines. He said Volvo hope to “continue to build on our momentum in the new year.”

The carmaker’s trio of gas-powered sport-utility vehicles were by far the top sellers, accounting for 67 percent of sales worldwide and nearly 84 percent in the U.S.

The entry-level EX90 SUV, built in China, was Volvo’s most popular electrified vehicle, with 98,065 sales globally. Only 240 were sold in the U.S. because of delays in bringing the vehicle to the American market and 100 percent tariffs that have been levied on Chinese-made EVs.

The luxury EX90 sport-utility — which started production in June at Volvo’s $1.2 billion Ridgeville plant — accounted for 1,806 sales worldwide, with more than half of those customers based overseas.

Nearly two-thirds of EX90 sales in December were to buyers outside of the U.S.

Volvo exports the EX90 from the Port of Charleston.

In addition to the EX90, Volvo’s plant off Interstate 26 in Berkeley County builds the Polestar 3 for its sister brand Polestar said Thursday that its 2024 global sales fell by 15 percent compared to the previous year, to 44,851 vehicles, despite growth in the final quarter. The automaker did not break out sales by model.