Volvo North America Reports January Sales Drop

Volvo Cars of North America, LLC, reported 7,819 sales in the United States for the month of January. Compared to the figures reported last year for the same month, the numbers are down by 12 percent.

Overall Volvo sales for North America including Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, were 8,628. The number is 11 percent down compared to the start of 2006. Volvo Canada sales dropped by 4.5 percent with 571 units sold while Volvo Mexico sales increased by 15.5 percent with 238 units sold.

Volvo Cars of North America, which is based in Irvine, California, is a subsidiary of the Volvo Car Corporation of Goteborg, Sweden. The company provides marketing, sales, parts, service, technology and training support to Volvo automobile retailers in the United States, and oversees Volvo operations in the markets of Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Volvo is famed for manufacturing cars with safety in mind. “Cars are driven by people – the guiding principle behind everything we make at Volvo, therefore, is and must remain – safety,” said Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson - both are founders of Volvo.

“Every year is a road safety year at Volvo.” That is the tagline of the automaker. And it expresses vast commitment to safety. As a fact, a quick sojourn to the past could tell how the automaker has been seriously taking its commitment to automotive safety. The track record includes 75 ground-braking safety innovations since 1927. From the innovative Volvo brake pads, airbags, seatbelts, to other car systems - the automaker is determined to contribute the best in auto safety features and technologies.

For the 2007 model year, Volvo introduced the award-winning new Volvo S40 and its wagon counterpart the Volvo V50; the award-winning Volvo XC90; the sporty Volvo S60 sedan - including the award-winning performance sedan; the Volvo S60 R and the performance wagon version - Volvo V70 R; the versatile Volvo V70 wagon and rugged Volvo XC70; the new Volvo C70 - the convertible with the innovative retractable hardtop, and the all-new Volvo S80.

Volvo is not losing its confidence in its lineup. The January sales drop could be recovered in the coming months. This is the very reason why the automaker is concentrating on marketing strategies to make the new lineup sell better.

The Ford Motor Co., where Volvo brand belongs, also reported a sales decline by 19 percent compared to last year’s figures. The decline was primarily attributed to the reduction in sales to daily rental companies by 65 percent.

"All of us at Ford are focused on restructuring our business to be profitable at lower volumes and offering more of the products people want, including more cars and more crossovers," said Mark Fields, Ford's President of The Americas. "We are focusing more of our attention on retail customers and reducing sales to daily rental companies sharply. Our customers benefit from this plan because their vehicles' residual values will improve - a trend we already are seeing with our newest products."

According to the Automotive Leasing Guide, “The resale values of Ford's newest products have improved by as much as 11 percentage points with Ford closing the gap on many Asian competitors.” The residual values have also improved 2 percentage points compared with the prior model year for the 2007 Ford Fusion sedan. Sales have also been 6 points better for the 2007 Lincoln Navigator, 9 points better for the 2007 Ford Expedition and 11 points better for the 2008 Ford Escape. Ford's new 2007 Edge crossover has resale values higher than Toyota Highlander and Nissan Murano. Ford, along with all its brands, is striving hard to recover from the debilitating loss.