Volvo Cars' June sales rise on fully electric model boost

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Volvo Cars' sales in June rose 8% to 71,514 cars from a year earlier, underpinned by strong performances in Europe and Latin America as well as for its new fully electric model EX30, the Sweden-based automaker said on Thursday.

Volvo Cars, which is majority-owned by China's Geely Holding, said in a statement that sales of fully electric and plug-in hybrid models were up 41%, and also account for 48% of its global car sales.

"As June comes to a close, the sales figures for the month are proof of the successful steps we have taken toward our long-term strategic direction and the continued demand for our cars," the company.

Sales in Europe, the biggest market for Volvo Cars, rose 34% in June to 36,474 year-on-year.

Annual sales in the U.S. market slumped 28% to 9,304 cars, partly due to widespread IT-related disturbances that forced a halt to normal operations across thousands of dealerships, the company said.

Volvo Cars' total sales for the first half of this year rose 14% from 2023 to 388,073 cars globally.

(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen; Editing by Anna Ringstrom and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)