Volvo Bucks the Trend - Sees EV Deliveries Decline in Europe but Rise In the U.S. For 2025 and Offers Hard-to-Understand Statements About the EV Reality It Self-Reported

If you follow EVs, you’ve probably seen a lot of social media banter about how EVs are just kicking butt in Europe, and pretty much everywhere but in America. The EV advocacy wants EVs to seem like they are doing well, so they put a lot of emphasis on things they think support that argument. Fair enough. Volvo just did it as well. Let’s look closely at Volvo’s year-end delivery summary to see how the brand’s battery-electric vehicles fared and where they went up and down.

We added the little red arrows to the Volvo delivery chart. Otherwise, it’s a screenshot of what the brand just sent out to the media. Let’s break down the battery-electric vehicle deliveries and see how they went for Volvo this year, and we’ll also compare that to how Volvo reported its EV deliveries in its press release.

Europe - EV Deliveries Fall By 22% In 2025
In Europe, Volvo saw its battery-electric deliveries drop by double digits. In total, Volvo delivered about 30,000 fewer EVs in Europe compared to the prior year. This seems to be odd, given there is so much chatter about EVs succeeding in Europe. Maybe it’s just European brands that are doing well, but wait, isn't Volvo a European brand? Hmm. 

China - EV Deliveries Fall By 46% In 2025
Volvo does comparatively little business in the Chinese market. Heck, Volvo shifted fewer than 150 EVs in the entire country in December. It sure seems like Volvo is losing ground in this very large market. BEV deliveries were down a whopping 46%. Well, it's probably Chinese-based companies that make stuff in China, selling all those Chinese-market EVs. Wait a minute. Isn't Volvo a Chinese-owned company making cars in China? Hmm.

Other Markets - EV Deliveries Up By 9% In 2025
“Other” is the world aside from the markets that Volvo calls China, Europe, and the U.S. Places like Turkey, which is normally not included in Europe, despite it having Europe’s most populous city. In “Other,” Volvo grew its EV deliveries a bit. It’s a small segment for Volvo, and they only added less than 3,000 BEVs in 2025 in Other.

U.S. Market - EV Deliveries Way Up By A Whopping 91%
In the U.S., Volvo had a great 2025 for EVs. BEV deliveries leapt by nearly double from 5,608 in 2024 to 10,708 in 2025. That is a huge bump, and BEVs even grew in Q4, following the cessation of EV tax credits in America. Bravo, Volvo.

How Volvo Spun Its 2025 Delivery Report To Pretend EVs Helped
Reading over Volvo’s own summary of its 2025 deliveries made us wonder if we were looking at the same data Volvo was. Here are some quotes offered by Volvo, and what actually happened.
Volvo’s Press Release Statement - “We are pleased to end the year on a positive note with growth across key regions thanks to increased sales of our fully electric and plug-in hybrid offerings,” said Erik Severinson, Chief Commercial Officer

Our Take - Volvo lost ground in every market, but the U.S. in 2025, and its battery-electric vehicle deliveries were down overall. Also, the company’s total vehicle deliveries were down overall. How is that somehow positive? Factually, the statement is untrue, and it’s hard for us to understand the “ending on a positive note” part. Volvo’s deliveries were down by 7% YOY, and its BEV deliveries were down by 13%.

Volvo’s Press Statement - “Sales of electrified models decreased by 48 per cent compared to the same period last year, mostly due to the adverse impact from the removal of subsidies on fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars.”

Our Take - Again, we don't see what Volvo is talking about. Volvo’s BEV deliveries went up 43% during December, after subsidies ended in America, not down. Also, Volvo’s EVs were down in China and down in Europe in 2025, which had nothing to do with American tax subsidies. It’s hard to understand how Volvo sees things.

Another Observation On Our Part - Volvo's Sales Are Mostly Mild Hybrid and ICE
Looking at the words Volvo uses, one might think the company is all about EVs. Mentally, Volvo may be thinking EVs, but its own delivery chart shows that the company still delivers more Mild Hybrid and ICE vehicles than EVs. Less than a quarter of Volvo's global deliveries are battery-electric vehicles. 
 

Tell us your thoughts on Volvo having bucked the trend on BEVs by actually selling more EVs in America after subsidies ended and by seeing its BEV deliveries in China and Europe plunge. The comments section awaits your observations. 

John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his fourteen years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. John employs grammar and punctuation software when proofreading, and he sometimes uses image generation tools.