Volvo Cars' May sales rise 13%, boosted by electric vehicles

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Volvo Cars' sales rose to 68,034 cars in May, up 13% from a year earlier, buoyed by a 27% jump in Europe and a strong performance by its fully electric EX30, the group said on Wednesday.

Sales of fully electric and plug-in hybrid models rose 37% to account for 48% of group sales globally, Sweden-based Volvo Cars, which is majority-owned by China's Geely Holding, said in a statement.

"This month's sales figures are another measure of our progress towards our sales target of at least 15% growth for 2024," it said.

However, sales in the United States and China fell by 5% and 1%, respectively.

Shares in the company were up 1.9% by 0755 GMT.

Volvo Cars aims to have electric vehicles account for half of its sales by volume by mid-decade and hopes to sell only EVs by 2030.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Terje Solsvik)