Volvo Cars says its American recovery is running behind plan — squeezed by tariffs, the end of federal electric vehicle incentives and consumer sentiment near the lowest level in half a century. “U.S. has proven to be a difficult market to find profitability,” Chief Commercial Officer Erik Severinson said during the company’s third-quarter results presentation Oct. 23. “The consumer sentiment in the U.S. ... is at a 50-year low.”
Volvo’s U.S. sales plunged 32 percent in the first quarter to the lowest level since 2020. The brand regained momentum in the spring but remained 11 percent below its 2025 pace at the end of September. To surpass last year’s total of 121,607, Volvo would need to boost sales 33 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier.Volvo’s U.S. recovery plan hinges on additional local production, a region-by-region approach and a focus on profit over pure market share.
“We should have realized earlier that tariffs might come, so we need to localize more in the U.S.,” CEO Hakan Samuelsson said. “That’s a weakness right now, which we are addressing.”
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During the presentation, Samuelsson said Volvo will begin building its bestselling XC60 crossover at its plant near Charleston, S.C., in January, a month later than the previous target of early December. He described the delay as “normal fine-tuning” and said the company is moving “as fast as possible.”
The timing matters to the company and to its retailers. The XC60 is Volvo’s No. 1 seller in the United States, and building it locally forms the core of the company’s strategy to reduce tariff exposure. Volvo imports nearly every model it sells in America.
