The Volvo C40 is one of the latest offerings in the electric SUV segment, and it’s also competing in the subcompact SUV segment. Although the car world is going electric, EV sales are largely dominated by Tesla, and the fact that Volvo is a luxury brand that makes expensive cars doesn’t help sales much either. Despite all of those factors, the Volvo C40 is finally picking up steam in terms of how many units the Swedish automaker is selling.  

The Volvo C40 sales have seen consistent and strong growth over time

GoodCarBadCar wrote about how cars are selling right now, and the site has data that was recently updated with sales data from January to July 2023. According to that sales data, the Volvo C40 has been doing well across all the relevant metrics. In July 2023, the Swedish automaker sold 564 units of the electric SUV; that represents a massive 588% jump compared to the 82 units that the company sold last July.

There’s a similar trend in terms of the EV’s year-to-date sales. So far this year, the automaker has sold 5,097 units of the C40. That’s a 139% jump in sales compared to the 2,133 units that Volvo sold in the first seven months of last year. With that being said, this jump in sales was a recent one. In the first quarter of the year, Volvo sold about 400 units a month.

It wasn’t until April that the company started selling far more than that. In fact, June 2023 was a great month for the C40, as Volvo sold 1,632 units of the EV. That means that, in June 2023 alone, Volvo sold over 50% of the C40 units the company sold in the entirety of 2022. While this explosive growth in sales is good for the C40, it has a long road ahead of it.

The electric SUV has a long way to go if it wants to catch up to the dominant EVs

Of the automakers that have comparable sales data to the Volvo C40, almost every single SUV model in America is doing better than the electric SUV. It’s currently the eighth worst-selling SUV in America, but that’s not a huge surprise. A lot of EVs have been struggling with supply chain issues, and that means that many electric SUVs are near the bottom in terms of year-to-date sales.

That’s the case for the Toyota bZ4X, the Subaru Solterra, and the Mazda MX-30, as they’re all electric SUVs that are doing worse than the C40. Many EVs are doing very well, though. The Kia EV6 has sold over 10,000 units so far this year, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 has sold about 18,000 units, and the Ford Mustang Mach-E has also sold nearly 18,000 units.

Then there’s the giant in the room, Tesla. The Model Y is one of the best-selling vehicles in America. In the first half of the year, Tesla has already moved about 190,000 units of the Model Y. 

A brief overview of the 2023 Volvo C40

While the Volvo C40 probably won’t catch up to the Model Y anytime soon, it’s still a capable EV that’s worthy of consideration. The luxury electric SUV won’t be cheap, as it starts at over $55,000. Volvo only gave it one powertrain option, and its electric motors get 402 hp combined. 

That’s a lot of power, and it allows the SUV to have strong performance specs. It can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds, and it can tow up to 2,000 lbs. Its 226 miles of range isn’t great, but Volvo makes up for it by giving the car a luxurious interior. 

Although it still has a ways to go, Volvo C40 sales are finally starting to be a bit more competitive.