‘We are in the midst of perhaps the most intense transformation in the group's history,’ said Håkan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Cars. ‘Despite a challenging market situation we continued to invest in important future technologies, such as VEA (Volvo Engine Architecture) and SPA (Scalable Product Architecture). At the same time we managed our cost side effectively. This balance is vital as we build our future as a strong independent car manufacturer in the premium segment.

‘Our strategy for 2013 is to retain market shares in the countries in which we operate by strengthening our presence in our segments, but with even more precision than before,’ Samuelsson continued. ‘The highly competitive climate is likely to continue in 2013, and impacted by macro trends we expect our sales in 2013 to be on par with last year. At the same time, we are well-positioned to capture positive sales trends and new customers, with an almost entirely renewed product range about to be launched into markets.’