Volvo’s plug-in hybrids are steadily gaining market share. As part of its monthly sales recap, the carmaker announced on Monday that plug-in hybrids accounted for 20.8% of its sales in the United States in May.
The number was even higher in California, where plug-in hybrids made up 47.7% of Volvo’s sales in the United States in May.
The national sales figures mean that Volvo has achieved the goal it announced last year when plug-in hybrids accounted for about 5% of its sales in the United States. The carmaker has made an effort to boost plug-in hybrid sales, something it sees as an essential step toward widespread adoption of fully electric cars.
Volvo gave its plug-in hybrids a significant price reduction, began hiding their tailpipes, and also introduced a program that will pay U.S. owners to plug them in. That’s significant because plug-in hybrids cannot achieve their potential emissions reductions without getting charged.
The automaker also went through much of its plug-in hybrid lineup, adding longer electric ranges to certain models for the European market.
The sales figures cited here also include the fully electric XC40 Recharge since Volvo now places all plug-in vehicles under the “Recharge” banner. However, it’s impossible to know what percentage of Volvo’s total plug-in car sales that single model represented because Volvo doesn’t break down sales figures for gasoline XC40 models.
The XC40 Recharge is Volvo’s current only all-electric model, but a C40 Recharge is on the way. In comparison, Volvo currently offers plug-in hybrid versions of the S60 and S90 sedans, V60 and V90 wagons, and XC60 and XC90 crossovers.
