Geely's Volvo Cars sales soar 40% in May vs. month-ago as virus curbs ease

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Volvo Cars, owned by China's Geely Holding [GEELY.UL], said on Wednesday it sold 40% more cars in May than in April, as restrictions to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic started to ease in several markets.

While still down 25.5% in May from a year earlier, the Swedish car maker sold 44,380 cars in the month compared to the 31,760 sold in April, helped by improving showroom traffic trends in Europe, a quicker than expected recovery in the United States, and strong growth in China.

Volvo said China sales grew 21.8% in May, while U.S sales inched down 2.5% year-on-year but bounced back strongly from April as states started to ease restrictions in place due to the pandemic.

Its sales in Europe fell around 50% in the month, still heavily impacted by restrictions in many countries, but Volvo said the region had shown signs of recovery compared with the previous month.

(Reporting by Johannes Hellstrom; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)