Part 5/8:
Volvo’s reputation, already struggling in the Chinese market, has been further tarnished by these allegations. Despite setting a global sales record of 763,000 vehicles in 2024 and a 40% increase in electric vehicle sales outside of China, the company's performance in the Chinese market saw a decline of 8.2% to only 156,000 units sold. Meanwhile, competitors like Zika, which shares manufacturing resources with Volvo, reported staggering sales growth.
This trend is particularly alarming considering the shrinking profitability of car dealerships in China. In a market where many dealerships are operating at a loss—evidenced by thousands of bankruptcies—there could be financial motivations behind replacing genuine car components with cheaper, counterfeit alternatives.