Volvo Group sales rise 8% to 119.5 billion kronor as profitability improves
Key Facts
Truck and equipment maker Volvo Group's net sales rose 8% in the third quarter of 2026 to 119.5 billion Swedish kronor, according to the group's earnings statement. Sales in the same period of 2025 were about 110.7 billion kronor, with the year-on-year increase accompanied by higher earnings and an improved operating margin. Adjusted operating profit rose to 14,693 million kronor from 11,707 million kronor a year earlier, according to the official disclosure. The adjusted operating margin increased to 12.3% from 10.6% in the corresponding quarter, allowing the group to retain a larger share of sales as adjusted operating profit. Volvo excluded costs of 339 million kronor when calculating adjusted operating profit for the period. In industrial operations, operating cash flow was positive at 7,195 million kronor during the quarter. That compared with negative operating cash flow of 1,739 million kronor in the same period a year earlier, extending the improvement in performance to cash generated by industrial operations.
By revenue component, Volvo said in its earnings presentation that group sales recorded "organic growth of 7%" in the third quarter of 2026. Vehicles led the growth, with sales rising organically by 8% from the same period a year earlier. Services continued to contribute to business expansion, with organic sales growth of 5%, albeit at a slower pace than vehicles. Compared with the immediately preceding quarter, however, the latest sales were below the level of the second quarter of 2026, when the group recorded 126.3 billion kronor, according to results for that period. Adjusted operating profit in the second quarter was 14.8 billion kronor, above the profit recorded in the third quarter. The adjusted operating margin in the second quarter, however, was 11.7%, showing an improvement in margin between the periods despite lower sales and adjusted profit.
The results follow an improvement in truck orders in the second quarter of 2026, when net orders rose 33% year on year to 63,412 trucks, according to Investing.com's report on the group's results. Strong demand extended to North America, where truck orders more than doubled from a year earlier during that period. In Europe and South America, demand grew gradually in the same quarter, according to the same source. The year-on-year comparison for the group's results followed more difficult conditions in some markets in the third quarter of 2025. Volvo's management said at the time that challenging market conditions in North America and South America had weighed on sales. By contrast, group sales in Europe rose during that period, according to its earnings presentation for the third quarter of 2025. Truck deliveries at the time fell 4% to 44,631 trucks compared with the same period of 2024, according to its quarterly report.
In autonomous transport, Volvo announced that it had begun operating its self-driving truck on the Dallas–Houston corridor in Texas. The truck is a "Volvo VNL Autonomous", according to the group's statement on its operations with Waabi. It is equipped with the "Waabi Driver" autonomous driving system. The truck carries freight directly to third-party facilities along the corridor. The group said "autonomous freight runs are currently taking place with an observer in the driver's seat".
To present the results, the group scheduled a press conference in Stockholm at 9.00 a.m. Central European Summer Time, with Chief Executive Martin Lundstedt and Chief Financial Officer Mats Bäckman. As part of its plans for its future business structure, it intends to launch "Volvo Mining" on 1 January 2027, according to a separate group statement. The new entity will be part of "Volvo Construction Equipment". It will initially focus on mining customers and contractors working in the sector in Sweden, Norway and Finland. The group aims to gradually expand the entity's operations into additional markets. It appointed Per Erik Lindström, currently head of "Volvo Trucks International", to lead the new entity.