Volvo Cars’ sales grow 10% in April on demand jump in China

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden-based Volvo Cars said on Wednesday that sales increased by 10% year-on-year in April to 51,976 cars, boosted by strong gains in China.

Volvo Cars, which is majority-owned by China’s Geely Holding, said in a statement that sales in China were up 46%. In Europe, its biggest market, sales were up 5%, while in the U.S. they were down 4%.

The carmaker’s shares were down 1% in early trade.

Volvo Cars said sales of fully electric cars nearly doubled to account for 17% of total sales. All recharge models, also including those not fully electric, were up 28%.

(This story has been refiled to drop repeated word ‘Europe’ in paragraph 2)

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Terje Solsvik and Sharon Singleton)