Volvo Car AB (publ.)

that's right multiple awards rolling in and we're ramping up the ex30 around the world we're going to speak a lot more about the car during this earnings call good morning and a warm welcome to the presentation of volvo car's first quarter financial results my name is ron and joining me this morning is our president and chief executive jim roman who joins us from our design studio in shanghai in fact jim is in china this week for the launch of the ex30 during the beijing auto show In the room with me is our Chief Financial Officer, Yuan Ekdal, and our Chief Commercial Officer, Bjorn Anval. At the top, Jim, Yuan, and Bjorn will walk us through our performance during the first quarter, and thereafter, we'll throw it open for a question and answer round. You can either participate using the chat windows that you should be able to see at the bottom of your screen, or you can simply use the phone lines. I'll come back with more information on how you can participate closer to the Q&A session, but for now, I leave the word to you, Jim.

Thanks, Ron. Delighted to be with everyone today and good morning. We started the year strong. Strong business performance with continued momentum to lay solid foundations. Double-digit retail sales growth during the quarter with the bulk of that growth coming in the back end of Q1 with March setting new monthly sales records of over 25% year-on-year growth. Solid core EBIT margins at 7.2% versus 6.1% this year. We improved the gross margins on fully electric cars, which came in at 16% versus 7% in Q1 2023. And the share of EVs and PHEVs came in at 41%, with EVs accounting for 21% of that. And the XC60 plug-in hybrid continues to be the most sold PHEV in Europe. We were the third largest EV brand in Europe. This is mainly on the back of the EX40 and the EC40 and of course the new EX30. And in fact, the EX30 was the third highest selling EV in March, having only started its retail journey. We started production and customer deliveries of the fully electric MPV, our new EM90 in China. Free cash flow stood at minus 12 billion sec, which is in line with their internal plans. This is affected by the EX30 inventory for that car and the inventory for our customers ahead. We secured shareholding support to distribute our 62.7% of our ownership in Polestar. And we continued to remain focused on cost and ensure robust capital allocation. If we look towards the financials, we reported solid financials for the quarter. Retail sales are up 12%. with most of that growth coming towards the end of the first quarter as we set new records in March and we ramp up the EX30. Revenues, slightly lower versus last year as a direct result of lower contract manufacturing. We'll speak to that in a little bit more detail very, very shortly. Our core EBIT margin improved to 7.2% from 6.6% year over year. This was due in part to the improved GOS margins, especially on BEVs and the result of our internal efficiency actions, especially on indirect costs. Cash flow for the quarter is down, but this is in accordance to our plan. We increased production and the build-up of the EX30 and inventory to meet the demand for that car. And Q1 is usually the low point for cash flows in our cycle, and it will improve in the coming quarters to remain on track for neutral cash flow in 2024. As we said previously, the EX30 is the smallest fully electric premium SUV, but with big potential. The Q1 performance showed the early prospects of this car, even though deliveries are still in the ramp-up phase. The car is a profitable growth driver for us as a business, with deliveries in Q1 already reaching 14,500 cars, and gross margins, as planned, between 15% and 20%. Thousands of customers across Europe are already behind the wheel of this car, with many more in line as it starts its ramp-up. And this will include customers in the US, China, South Korea, and Canada. And in the coming weeks and months, by the year ahead, we will have this car available in more than 90 countries across the world. I'm so pleased to share that the EX30 continues to win awards. This time, it's the 2024 Urban Car of the Year. and the Red Dot Best of the Best, two additional prestige awards that we've won. So in total, the EX30, since it was introduced, has received more than 20 awards, and we're still counting. Our balanced approach to hybrid and BEV has strengthened our portfolio. We continue to have high share of fully electric and plug-in hybrid sales, and this total reached 41%, with EV accounting for 21% of that. This performance on EV demonstrated that we are fully on track to reach our guidance of considerably higher EV share in 2024 versus 2023. Q1 was also an important quarter in terms of gross margins, with the fully electric car reaching 16%, up from 7% in Q1 last year, and from 13% in Q4 2023. This increase was led by the EX30, with gross margins of between 15% and 20%. but also we improved our margins on the EX40 and the EC40 due to lower material costs. Now we're taking a balanced approach on our products and the propulsion offerings. We have small SUVs, we have large SUVs, sedans, wagons, and MPVs, and that sets up nicely for growth in the premium end of the sector in over 90 countries. We have a balanced approach to propulsion, offering customers plug-in electric hybrids, mild hybrids, as well as fully electric cars. And we have focused on the premium segment. Apart from the EX30, the EM90 has already started production, and we've seen the first customers get behind the wheel of that car in China. The EX90 will start production in Charleston, in the USA, in the first half of this year. And each of these cars will be launched with new segments, which will strengthen our position in the premium electric segment around the world. And with that, I will hand over to Bjorn who will speak more about this balanced approach in our commercial operations.

Thank you, Jim. And clearly with a balanced car portfolio, we also have a balanced commercial approach. If you look at our geographical footprint to start with, it's a truly global and balanced situation where almost half of our sales is in Europe with another 20% each coming from China and from US and Canada. And a reminder, the 15% comes across Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East Africa. So all in all, we're active across 90 countries. We also have a balanced setup in a backbone of physical retail partners that serve our customers across 2,200 retail locations for selling cars and 2,500 service locations for servicing cars. This physical backbone is then empowered through digitization to drive a great omnichannel experience, giving a good customer experience and taking costs out of the system for efficiency. Importantly, there are 10 million Volvos out there in the world today. That car park creates a good foundation for our continued growth. It has an immediate positive impact in that we, of course, sell parts and accessories and service to those Volvo lovers, but it also creates a good foundation for further growth. We will grow both by conquesting new customers, but also remaining the Volvo lovers out there. We need to retain them. This is a balanced approach. Out of the 10 million cars out there, we actually hit a landmark situation in March where we delivered now 1 million electrified cars, be it plug-in hybrid or bed. we have delivered 1 million electrified cars by March this year, which is also a good foundation for the future. Speaking about those electrified cars, you can see that across many markets in Latin America and Asia Pacific in particular, we are focusing almost fully on those cars. That might be a bit counterintuitive given that some of those markets are not very mature from an electrification standpoint for the total car market, but they were clearly right for premium electrification made by Volvo. This focus has propelled Volvo, Volvo's brand. We have increased market shares and earnings in those countries. We do that by being more distinct. It's right for sustainability, but it also gives a lot of simplification, both commercially and from an industrial point of view. This is a good way forward, and I think it's a testament to the fact that it's a big difference between electrifying the full car market and electrifying a part of the premium car market, which is Volvo's strategy. If you're a 1% premium brand that focuses on electrification, electrification is an upside, not a risk. If we turn over to the full electric cars, here we continue to grow. We grow with 27% year over year in quarter one. And now, as Jim said, 21% of all our deliveries are fully electric cars. And importantly, We're doing this with a value over volume mindset, and we have continued to deliver increasing margins on those cars and met the guidance we provided in terms of EX30 cars between 15 and 20% gross margin. So, our balanced car portfolio. On the plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid side, we continue to see solid demand, and with the love and tender we will give to those cars, We see this as a strong foundation and bridge towards the future where Volvo will be a full electric company after 2030. On the full electric side, as Jim already mentioned, EM90 is now starting to ship in China. EX90 will be produced in H1 and shipped in H2. And EX30 has really started off well. It hit a, I would say, inflection point in Europe where we started really to shipped to customers in March, and we shipped almost 8,000 cars in Europe in March. In Asia Pacific and Latam, that inflection point where we really ramp up deliveries will happen before summer in May, June. In US and Canada, it will happen after summer in September, October. And in China, after launching it in Beijing Auto Show this week, it will start to ship during the summer. So to sum up, we have a balanced car portfolio, we have a balanced commercial approach with a very clear future, premium electrification, but we have a very balanced approach of getting there. So with that, over to Johan Ekdal for a balanced review of our financial numbers. Johan.

Thank you, Björn, and good morning, and some more deep dive into the financials then. Retail sales, 12% increase in the quarter on the back of a still healthy demand and also, of course, the ramp up of the EX30, taking us to being well on track towards our guidance of at least 15% volume growth in the full year 24. Revenue is slightly down 2%, but that is driven significantly. mainly by the fact that we have less contract manufacturing to Polestar during the quarter and also some FX headwind on revenue. We will come back with more details shortly. But the underlying operating revenue is increasing. EBIT increased from 6.3 to 6.8 billion or from 6.6 to 7.2% during the quarter, which is then driven both, of course, by the increase in volume, but also the fact that we have a lower cost situation in the quarter, both on raw materials, lithium, et cetera, but also on the fixed cost side, having effects from the cost actions we took last year going into 2024 with an improved run rate. EBIT, including Javis & Associates, at 4.7 billion or 5%, we'll come back to more details on EBIT here shortly. Cash flow, minus 12 billion for the quarter, an improvement from the same period last year, and also very much due to the ramp up of inventory of EX30 and also normal seasonality affecting working capital and inventory. And that should gradually improve during the remainder of the year to take us to the neutral free cash flow for the full year 24. On revenue, we see a positive impact, of course, from the volume growth. On the sales mix and pricing side, A couple of things, both that we see a little bit of a change in mix, of course, higher BEV share, ramp up of EX30, a lower priced, smaller car having an effect on revenue. And also remember from the pricing side, last year in the first quarter, year over year, we were still in the supply constraint situation with an undersupply of cars. That has been a normalization of pricing since then. But if we look back into the fourth quarter of 23 into the first quarter, we are maintaining very healthy price discipline and don't see any negative pricing effects going into 24. FX headwind on revenue, minus 2 billion, mainly driven by the strengthening of the Swedish SEC. And then the biggest... Negative impact is the reduce in contract manufacturing in the quarter, minus 4.3 billion to contract manufacturing to Polestar. And then also some other offsetting positive effects, mainly driven by parts and accessories business, as well as used car sales, taking us down to the 93.9 billion in revenue for the quarter. On EBIT, volume contributing, of course, positively to the EBIT growth. Sales mix and pricing, a lot of the same situation as in revenue. We see year over year normalized pricing from Q1 last year, still maintaining good price discipline compared to Q4 last year, and also mix shifting towards higher BEV share, EX30 ramping up, still on increasing BEV margins, but slightly dilutive compared to company margins. FX in EBIT, slightly positive. Other currencies, mitigating the negative effects on revenue. And also then positive, the 1 billion in other mainly consists of two things, lower cost, raw materials, and also fixed cost, and also contributions from the sales of parts and accessories and used cars. Going into then the 6.8 billion in EBIT or 7.2%, an increase from 6.6%, excluding Javis and Associates last year. including Javis & Associates, taking the net of all Javis & Associates, whereby Polestar is the biggest part, but also all other smaller Javis & Associates coming in net at minus 2.1 billion, then taking us to 4.7 billion, or 5% for the full group. And as a reminder, we are still consolidating 48% of Polestar into our EBIT, and the effect of the distribution of... A reminder of the distribution of awards rolling in and we're ramping up the increase from 6.6% excluding Javis & Associates last year. Including Javis & Associates, taking the net of all Javis & Associates, where by Polestar is the biggest part, but also all other smaller Javis & Associates coming in net at minus 2.1 billion, then taking us to 4.7 billion or 5% for the full group. And as a reminder, we are still consolidating 48% of Polestar into our EBIT and the effect of the distribution of shares down to 18%. That will happen during the first half of May this year. BEV margins at 16%, 13% in Q4, 9% for the full year 23, 7% the same period last year. So we are on a positive track. And that's really driven by the EX30 ramp up coming in, as we have said, of 15 to 20% gross margin, but also improvements in the previous cars, EC40, EX40 coming in, driven by lower lithium prices still flowing through somewhat into 24, and also a clear focus on the value over volume strategy for those cars, taking us down to the 16%. And just as a short comment on... Gross margin for the full group, slightly lower than in Q4, mainly then driven by the mix of cars. But also, I would like to emphasize the fact that despite that, we are increasing our EBIT margin to 7.2%, so on the back of the lower cost. Liquidity, we're going out of the quarter with a solid liquidity level and a strong balance sheet. minus 12 billion in free cash flow for the quarter, which is according to plan. We will gradually improve during the year and have the neutral free cash flow, as we have said, for the full year, then where Q1 should be the low point on the ramp up of inventory, mainly driven by the EX30 ramp up then. And if we look a little bit how that plays out over time, we are now in 24 and 25 on the peak levels of investments where we do a lot of investments into new technology manufacturing footprint new architecture for upcoming cars etc that we should really be able to harvest on them especially from 26 and forward where we should see the absolute levels of investments coming down even more so relative to revenue on the back of the growth that we will have And that should cater for us being able to deliver a strong free cash flow from 26 and forward and navigating this to maintaining a neutral free cash flow for the years 24 and 25, despite the high investments we really do in our future and our transformation. So to summarize the financials, solid core EBIT margin of 7.2% in the quarter, improving BEV margins to 16%. Free cash flow according to plan and on track towards neutral in 2024. And a strong balance sheet and liquidity levels into the second quarter. And a little bit more also on how this will play out during 2024. We do see already in the first quarter, as we previously have said, increasing R&D amortizations and lower R&D capitalization affecting our EBIT. And that will also sequentially do so during 2024. We are at high investment levels into new platforms, technology and manufacturing capacity. And the free cash flow should be neutral in 24 and 25. It will improve during the coming quarters. And then we should, as I said, be able to generate a strong, positive free cash flow from 2026 and onwards. And on volumes, the full year guidance remain of retail sales growth of at least 15%. Dev share will increase considerably versus 2023, driven mainly by the EX30 ramp up, and we're at 21% now in the first quarter. And again, then from early May, our lowered shareholding in Polestar will be reflected into our group EBIT going from 48% to 18% ownership. So with that, I leave it back to you, Jim.

Thanks, Johan. So looking ahead, strong balanced lineup of premium cars and the fully electric range, plug-in electric hybrid, and our mild hybrid range. We'll be ramping up deliveries of the EX30 and the EM90. We're set to introduce a paradigm shift in our technology with the start of production of the EX90 in the first half of this year. And we will remain focused on streamlining our cost base and our capital allocation. We will also continue to prioritize value over volume with a balanced portfolio to meet our business ambitions. To sum up, We have a balanced approach to our strategy that positions us to deliver on our transformational journey. This allows us to react to the changing market demands quicker than many of our competitors. And that balanced portfolio is focused in five areas. Product. We have cars in many sizes and segments, the 30, 40, 60, and 90 range, SUVs, sedans, wagons, and MPVs. And we have these to meet the needs of our various customers around the world. Propulsion. We have mild hybrids, plug-in electric hybrids, and fully electric cars. In production, we have manufacturing facilities in every region, Asia, Europe, and in the USA. And this aspect has become more important as trade and import tariffs continue to change across the world. In pricing, we have maintained a balanced price discipline across all of our various models. And we have our core, ultra, and plus variants. Partnerships. We have carefully balanced our investment choices between internal development and building key partnerships with leading technology companies around the world, such as Nvidia, Qualcomm, Google, and Apple. We've also developed a strong retail and service dealership structure in every region with over 2,200 retail partners across the globe. And this balanced approach is a key aspect towards our continued growth. We are laying strong foundations for the future. and it positions us to achieve our ambitions of between 550 and 600 billion SEC, and an EBIT margin of above 8% in 2026. Looking forward, on September 5th, we will also host our annual Capital Markets Day in Gothenburg, with a focus to outline our strategic transformation, as well as the journey towards our financial ambitions. We will share in more detail what that consists of in the coming days. And with that, I'll hand back to Ron. Ron.

Well, thank you very much for that, Jim. You're all now set to start the Q&A session. But before I do that, I can see from some of the chats that you're getting from our live stream that there might have been some interruption in the live transmission. Apologies for that. Hopefully, you were able to catch up with the rest of the presentation. But of course, the presentation is available on our website as well if you were to look at this afterwards. But let's start the Q&A session. You can participate in two ways. Either you can use the chat windows that you see at the bottom of your screen, in which case I will then read out the question on your behalf. Otherwise, simply use the phone lines. But remember, to be able to ask a question on the phone lines, press star one one. And I request all our callers to please take one question at a time. So with that, let's take the first question. And let me take the first question that's come in online already. Maybe I'll pass this to you, Jim. The question is that it comes in from Andy Raul. He asks that we've seen your share price in recent days rally up almost 50% since you announced your fourth quarter results. What is causing that, according to you? Is there more headroom for the stock to grow?

Hi, Ron. Thanks for the question. let's be honest, the stock price is basically an outflow of performance of the core business. So I actually don't focus on the stock price. I focus on, are we doing the right thing? First of all, do we have the right strategy for the business that takes us forward? Are we producing the right cars at the right price? Do we have the right talent in the business? Are we building the right technologies that will deliver on that strategy? And ultimately, is this driving performance? And that's really been the focus, the focal point for the whole executive management team. If we get that right, if we start to see that performance improve and we're predictable, then I think the stock takes care of itself. But the stock in itself, I really don't pay that attention to that. I pay attention to the overall core fundamentals of the business.

Right. Jim, thank you for that. Let's take then our first caller.

Sorry, Ron. I think as well, maybe just to follow up on that. I think one of the things which has became more and more apparent is that we have a very balanced portfolio. We'll probably come on to some of those questions as we get deeper into the call. But this balanced portfolio where we have really good mild hybrid, plug-in electric hybrid, and EV technology in various class sizes of 30, 40, 60, 90 SUVs, sedans, M-Heavens, etc. I think that narrative has become much more important to the investment community in terms of the depth of our technology, the breadth of our network, that we're in 90 countries, that we have a great dealership network and so on. I think all of that has become much more developed, if you like, as a narrative across the investment base.

Okay. Thank you for that. Let's take the first caller then this morning. And that is Harry Martin from Bernstein. Good morning, Harry. And I hope you hear us. So as I said, please request you to take one question at a time for the benefit of all of us here. Go ahead, Harry.

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for the presentation. The first question I have is just a little bit of color on the price and the mix. I understand the commentary on price normalization and mix. So can you just confirm you haven't seen any negative pricing impacts or rising competition in the context of EVs or inventory builds elsewhere? And then relatedly, On value and volume in the US, you talked about gaining share of volumes in the US, but if I calculate revenue per car, it's down more than 30% in Q1. So I think it's a related question, but any commentary you have on the mix and the pricing normalization from a US standpoint as well?

Maybe I can take that and start from kind of the overall picture. I think you're right that the biggest driver of that is the mix. In terms of the pure pricing, we are maintaining a very strict kind of value over volume approach, and we haven't seen any drama in changes over the last quarter over quarter. When it comes to the U.S., and this becomes a bit technical, but clearly within a certain quarter, retail deliveries doesn't translate directly into revenue recognition. You have different channels, right, where you have rental channels and some of the leasing channels where the revenue recognition rather than coming at the point of where we deliver the car, it comes over the duration of that contract or when we sell the used car. And quarter to quarter, the channels can fluctuate a bit. So I wouldn't read in too much in that. And we haven't made any strategic big shifts in how we see the channels if you look at the full year. So I wouldn't read too much into that specific quarter in the U.S.

Harry had another follow-up question was on the value of a volume revenue per car down. Maybe you touched upon it slightly, but if there's more color, Johan, if you want to put on that.

No, but I think as Björn says, it's a mix of things. And to some extent, it can be variations between quarters. Exactly as Björn said, different sales channels that has a little bit different time facing when it comes to revenue recognition, et cetera. What we can say is that we can Firmly say that we don't see any price deterioration. If you look at the end of 23 into 24, the walk in the presentation is more year over year, Q1 over Q1, where we still had an imbalance in supply and demand in Q1 2023. So I'll just sort of re-emphasize what Björn is saying.

Okay, thank you. Harry, do you have any follow-up for us?

If I could just have a quick follow-up on the margins as well. You gave good colour on the 16% EV gross margin, but the 25% gross margin in the ICE and the hybrid business is also very strong. So I wondered if you could just touch on the outlet for the margin on that side of the portfolio in the midterm and put that into context of how you think about margin parity over the longer term as well.

Yeah, I can start if you look at it a little bit more short term first. Again, we have increased our BEV margins to 16%, both driven by lower raw materials and also EX30, of course, ramping up. If we look a little bit ahead into 2024 on the BEV margins, of course, we will ramp up the car EX30 with higher volumes, which will also lead to, let's say, a little bit more of a mixed spec level. So I don't foresee any Huge increases in the BEV margins in short term, but we should definitely maintain on the good levels where we are right now. And as you say, on the non-BEV cars, we do see still a healthy demand and good margins. Mixes might vary quarter over quarter to some extent, but we don't see any major margin deterioration short term.

Okay. Thanks for that. Hope that answers your questions, Harry. Let's take the next question that comes in online. And there are two questions comes in this from Felix Page Auto Car. And probably I'll turn to you, Jim, for both of these questions. Firstly, Felix asks, are you still confident you can achieve 50 percent EV sales by end of next year and go all electric by 2030?

Let me take the EX30. So we started the EX30 sales just really, it came into full production in the back end of the first quarter. And we saw immediately the sales of that car be propelled to be the third best selling EV in Europe behind the Tesla Y and the Tesla 3. So that's a great start for that car. and demand as strong as Bjorn has alluded to. And we will see then in the coming years, for the rest of this year, of course, the whole of 2025, we'll see full production of the EX30. We also have the EX90, which will come into production this year, and we'll have the EM90. So three brand new cars, all in full production this year and all through 2025. In addition to the refreshed EX40 and EC40, And we'll announce more EV cars at the back end of this year, which will start production and sales in 2025 as well. I'm confident that there is enough. And the premium sector as well, remember, is very different from mass market. In the premium sector, you need to remember that you're selling to a customer or a household that very often has more than one car. They may have an ICE car and they may then want to have a PHEV or a full BEV car. We're also selling to customers in the EV space in the premium sector that very, very often have their own charge infrastructure. And so the barriers to adoption become much less because they can charge at home. When you wrap all that together, full sales of EX30 and full production by 2025, the refresh of the 40 and the C40, the new EX90, new EM90, and a brand new car in 2025, and that we're in a premium sector which is still growing in the EV space, then I think it's more than possible for us to reach that ambitious target of 2025 at 50%. And then you go on to 2030, we've got another five years then between then and 2030. Now we know that legislation is changing in Europe, let's say if we pick Europe, 2035. that you won't be able to sell ice cars by 2035. People won't make that decision. This is a big purchase for people, quite often the second biggest purchase after their home. They won't make the decision whether to buy a Bev or whether to buy an ice car on December 31st, 2034. They'll make that decision much, much sooner. And in the meantime, in the next four, five, six years, you're going to see infrastructure massively improve. You're going to start to see energy density within batteries improve. You're going to see research driving down cost of batteries. You're going to see more competition in the battery space. You're going to see new investments and new innovation all around. Because let's be honest, the innovation, the investment, the engineering, the development, the research has been done on EV. It has not been done on internal combustion engines. And when you add all of that together, I think you then start to see a really clear path towards a fully electric future in that time span of 2030. Less service and cost for customers, less heat, vibration, and noise, and zero tailpipe emissions. Put all that together, and I think you'll see that being a very achievable future.

Here's that one thing, and that's... Clearly, it's six or seven years until 2030, and we have the balanced approach. Then when we're there, two things matter. What's the size of the web market, and what's our relative performance? And when it comes to the size of the web market, we can debate whether it's going to be 30% of the market or 50% and 80%. The only thing I know is that the share of the premium web market is going to be higher than the share of the total market, and we are in the premium market. Then when it comes to our relative performance, we're a 1% brand. So that's really what matters. It doesn't really matter if it's 30% or 50%, 80%. What matters is how well we play in that part of the market. Looking at our relative performance right now, I see us massively increasing market share on the BEV side, and I see us delivering stronger gross margin, and I don't see any players out there who at least announce gross margins on BEVs that are in a different level than we have. So I think we are on the lead on both getting the profitability out of the cars and the market share. So relative performance is what matters for a small player, and there we perform.

Good. And Felix had another follow-up, and I'll again turn to you for this one, Jim. You say a varied product mix is fundamental to your strategy. When will we start to see the sedan wagon ranges going electric?

So we released that. Obviously, we're going to be releasing. We have a cycle plan that takes into account different parts of the world, the different models and shapes and sizes and price points, customer demographics, and the changing customer sentiment. And we put all of that thinking into a range plan and our cycle plan strategy. And we develop cars. And then when the time is right, we announce those cars to the public. So that is a wait and see question.

All right. Thank you. Let's take another caller then. And this is Eric Goldrang from SEB. Good morning, Eric. And again, I request you to please take one question at a time, please. Go ahead, Eric.

Thank you. Thank you. First question on production, 235,000 vehicles in Q1. Is that a pace you expect to keep here in the near term or any element of initial stockpiling or anything of the EX30?

I mean, the short answer is that the short answer is that they specifically has, you know, has started its production life. We're ramping up through the gears, so to speak, on that. We have high ambitions for that car. Obviously, that's going to play a big part of our growth in EV as we go forward. So you'll see that production ramp up through the course of the next few months as we develop more markets for that. We should be in about over 90 countries with the EX30 by the end of this year. So, yeah, so that will continue to develop and increase in terms of its output from the factories.

Maybe I can just add a nuance to that as well. I mean, clearly, now the EX30 is produced in China, and the major market right now is Europe, and that's a three-month lead time. So, of course, that's a pipeline with working capital that you need to build up. Then, during next year, we will reallocate production to Europe and localize the production to Ghent in Europe. And, of course, that will change the kind of working capital situation for EX30 during next year.

And from a working capital perspective, we will have, I mean, we are at the build-up of inventory during Q1, and that will be balancing out during the year. So we expect, as we have said, neutral free cash flow for the year, which also, of course, includes a balance between production and sales. But the production is on full speed, and we are fully normalized in that respect. But, of course, we need to balance that as we go to match the growth in sales.

All right. Eric, if we still have you on the phone line, if you have any follow-up questions.

Yes, please. On the R&D side in the P&L, I think we saw amortization come up here now. What's the further impact from the X90 coming into production? How big of an initial, of a further step up in R&D in the P&L that we see here, Q2 to Q4?

I've seen an increase in amortization already in the first quarter, which we also have been able to balance very nicely because we have still increasing profitability margins. There will be some sequential increase of amortization during the year. We don't guide on specific numbers for that. But again, as we also see a balance in... In the first quarter, we are able to increase the profit margins, but it will not necessarily be exactly linear during the year. But we have an effect in Q1. There will be some sequential effects remaining during the remainder of the year.

All right, Eric, hopefully that answers all your questions. Let's take another caller. And this one comes in from HSBC. Good morning, Pushkar. Please go ahead with your question.

Good morning, everyone. And my first question is about the phasing of your profitability margin. So you were at 7.2x JVs in the first quarter, but as the R&D capitalization effect gets closer towards normalizing, I think the profitability should go down. So if you could talk to about the phasing of your profitability margin through the year, and maybe also how you see that developing towards the 8% target by 2026. Thank you.

Yeah, sure. I can start. Yeah, as you say, we are increasing profit margins in the first quarter, and that is also including an increase in in amortization. That will gradually come in during the year. But of course, we will also have a growth. We are growing at 12% in the first quarter, and we said we will grow at least 15% in sales volumes for the full year. And BEV margins have also improved. So there are things going in different directions. We are very confident in the 8% in 2026. It will not necessarily be a fully linear journey quarter over quarter. And as you say, there will be some further amortization and depreciation coming in, especially during the second half of this year. But I think we are at a good starting point and we are at a good run rate, both from a growth and cost perspective. And we will also continuously, of course, working with our cost structure. So I think that there will be things that go in both directions. I will not be that specific on exactly margins quarter over quarter, but I'll say we are on the right track, but it will not necessarily be exactly linear.

Good. Pushkar, any final question from you before we move on?

Yeah, just on your BEVs, right? So I think you confirmed that the EX90 is on track, right, for second quarter production. But just if you could give us some color on the orders of these three new, new BEVs, so the EX30, 90, and EM90 maybe, if you can give some color on the order. And just on the EX90, is there any reason why their gross margin can't be around the 20% level? I mean, you've talked about the EX30 gross margins, but not for the EX90. So if that's something that you can talk to about. Okay.

Let me take that. So in terms of we won't give gross margins for every single individual product that we produce. So we wanted to, as we embarked upon the EV journey, if you will, we know there was a real interest in the markets in terms of how was our EV gross margin compared to our general gross margin. So we split that out. I think we're still one of the few car companies around the world with mixed technologies that splits out EV margins. as a total. The only other addition to that is, again, we knew it was going to be a very important proof point to the markets that we could see a small SUV, fully electric, that could generate good gross margins. So we chose to give a range on that between 15% and 20% on the SUV. And generally speaking, that's The smaller cars are always harder to get a better gross margin than the bigger cars, historically at least. But we won't give gross margin percentages for every single model that we build. And similarly, we don't give guidance on volumes for every single model that we build either. So I don't know if Johan wants to add any more to that, but that's pretty much the guidance criteria that we have at the moment.

Yeah, I can just echo what you're saying. And we are at an improving journey on the BEV margins. And I think EX30 being a smaller car with 15 to 20% gross margin is really an important proof point. But as you say, we don't guide on specific margins for specific products. But we should maintain a good gross margin level on the EVs for the remainder of the year and going into next year.

Maybe on the demand side and order side, I mean, IEC 30, as I said in the presentation, we have ramped up Europe, but the ramp up in other regions is still to come. And as a broad guidance and kind of where we see the demand and expectations on it, I mean, I said Europe is 45% of our overall retail deliveries. It's probably going to over-index a bit for Europe. It's a car that really fits the Europe perspective. It will also over-index our belief based on early demand in this kind of Asia Pacific and Latin part of our business. Probably slightly, I mean, index was slightly under-indexed in the U.S. And then in China, we're going to play it. really as a fully premium electrified car and as part of the kind of premium electrification journey we need to do in China. And given the competitiveness in the Chinese market and the lack of profitability in that market, there is where we really value over volume and really have the long-term in mind to kind of position Volvo as the premium fully electric brand. So there, volume is less of the priority. It's more how we position Volvo right for the future. Good.

Thanks. Hopefully that answers all your questions, Pushkar. Another question comes in, and this is on the chat. This is from Jose Asimundi from JP Morgan. It's similar theme around bear underlying profitability. Maybe I'll look at you for this one, Yuan. What are the drivers to improve the profitability of electric cars? And should we expect you can improve the gross margins thanks to lower raw material costs even going further?

Yeah, there are, of course, a number of building blocks. One is, of course, raw materials. Now we are at quite low levels on raw materials. We have seen some flow through into 2024 as well compared to last year. I don't expect any major upside from raw materials. More that we are, of course, working on hedging, etc., in order to secure attractive raw material levels for the future. So that is a little bit short term. I don't expect any major increases in the BEV gross margins during this year, but we should definitely maintain at a good level where we are. And then going forward, of course, when we talk about cost parity and and into the future. It's really with each new generation of architecture for the electric cars being more efficient. I mean, a lot of the things that we're now currently investing in and the reasons why we have high investments now in like 24, 25, it's really things like mega costing is one example for parts of the body structure, battery cell to body technology, in-house e-motors and inverters, et cetera. And those things will make each new generation of architecture even more cost-competitive per car going into the mid-decade and beyond. So it's both a combination of technology and efficient architecture and ensuring that we have raw materials at attractive prices. So I hope that answers your question.

All right. Thank you. Let's take another caller then. And this is Hampus from Handelsbanken.com. Good morning, Hampus. And again, just if I kindly remind you to take one question at a time, please, for the benefit of all of us here.

Go ahead. Absolutely will do. Well, I have a question on the ramp-up of the Novo factory. And if I understand correctly, it will start production in 2026. And I'm thinking here with your growth target this year and perhaps continued growth also in 2025 and the 50% target on BEV, How much could Nova be a restriction for you guys, not being up and running in 2025? And is Nova also restricting you guys for launching maybe battery-electric cars in the faster speed than you're doing? Thanks.

Hi, Hampus. Thanks for that question. In actual fact, no, it's designed, the ramp-up of the Novo factory and the technology and the battery cells and packs that come from that factory are aligned with the new product introduction of specific products. And they are geared towards the precision of those both coming together, both the design and development of the product and the design and development of the battery cells. Absolutely on track. Everything is as it should be. The cars that we will announce in 2025 won't use and were never designed to use the cells from Novo. So that is not a specific concern for us at all at this point in time. The Novo factory is ramping up as it should. We're a little bit ahead of schedule on the build on that, which is nice. The technology is coming together pretty nice. The development of the product that those first battery cells will go into is absolutely on plan as well. So that is all very much aligned in accordance with our planning.

Thank you. And a second question for Miran is, if I look on the EX30 presentation and when you go into production now, and the same goes for the EM90, it's very short lay times between launch and delivery, while we've seen a more extended one on the EX90. I know you've been working on the central computer, but is it fair to assume that the things that you sold in the EX90 that when launching, for instance, the EX-60, it will use the same technology, so we won't expect this type of longer lead times. We should be more looking at the lead times we've seen on the EX-30 and the EM-90 when you launch new models.

That's a fantastic question, and I'm really pleased you asked that question because it's one of the big messages that we want to make sure that we land with the investment community and beyond. You're absolutely right. When we delayed the EX90, part of the delay for that was to make sure that the follow-on products and the follow-on software could be reused to a very high level. And that's exactly what's going to happen. If you remember the graph that Johan showed, we're at the peak of that investment. And then we harvest those investments that we've made over the course of the next five, six, seven years and over the course of the next products. So what we'll see is will be a reuse of really robust code that we'll have written and tested in the EX90. And then we'll see that being able to be ported into new products, which means the development work of that is much less, much less costly and much more robust. Which gets to the second part of your question. Then we can make sure that the distance between launching those cars and actually getting those cars into the hands of customers is much more in line with what we'd like to see a couple of months versus, you know, a year or more. So great question. And I'm really pleased you asked that.

All right. Hopefully that answers all your questions then, Hampus. We have a few minutes remaining, so I just need to go through a few more callers and questions. The next caller is Sian Keegan calling in from Goldman Sachs. Good morning. Please go ahead with your question.

Yeah, good morning, and thank you for taking my question. Firstly, could you give us your latest insights into how the direct sales model is performing in the markets where you have introduced it? And is there any quantification you can provide with respect to the improvement in pricing as a result of this direct sales model?

That's a good question and one that we're working with a lot. So clearly we have used the UK as the first market to go into a full direct model. And that has been a key learning journey for us. On the one hand, I think one key conclusion you can draw is that when the normal consumer follows the normal process, this seamless omnichannel approach drives both great customer experience and great efficiency for both us and the retailer and for the customer. So that's the good news. I think the key learning is that the normal consumer is not behaving in the normal way. It is a very important purchase for a consumer and things happen and you want to change things. And our retail partners have a great ability to handle that flexibility. That's very important for the customer. So what we're working with in the UK is to find the right balance there on what things do you kind of automate and do in one thing, in one way, what things do we take over to handle as an OEM, and what things remain with the retail partners. And we work with our retail partners to really find the right balance there. So that's important, and I think this transparent price and having price, you knowing that the price that we're announcing is the price that I'm going to get, regardless to what retailer I'm going, that's something that, customers value, our retailers value. So that's an advantage with that model. But we really need to make sure that we find the right balance on how we divide and conquer the work between us and our retail partners. And we continue to work on that. The big, biggest lever when it comes to driving efficiency and money to the bottom line is really in Europe to work on our network restructuring that we have announced one, two years out and working to make sure we have the right amount of retailers and the high-performing retailers in our network. And then we're going to continue to use digitization to really drive further efficiencies. But this black and white thing between a classic wholesale and a pure online, that's not at all where we are. We believe in a more hybrid model in between where you drive the efficiencies, and that's where we're going to continue to work on.

Good. Sian, we need to move on and just take a couple of last questions that's come in online just now. Maybe I'll stay with you, Bjorn. This question, I don't see a name here, but I'll still take this question. Are you surprised that the XC60 was the highest selling plug-in hybrid car in Europe during Q1? What does it say about the customer demand for PHEVs in general now?

I was not surprised at all because it was also the best-selling plug-in hybrid in Europe in Q4. It has been that now for, I think, six months in a row. So I think it shows exactly what Jim was talking about, that people really see the advantages of fully electric cars, but there are still range anxiety. The fast-shortening infrastructure is not built out. This takes time to learn a new behavior. And with the XE... 60 plug-in hybrid, now with this three-layer battery generation, we have actually a very good distance on it. It can drive 70, 80 kilometers in pure electric mode. And for consumers who can charge overnight at home or at work, that's typically what you need for your daily commute. And we see that from the statistics. People are using those cars more as fully electric cars than as ICE cars. More than 50% of the energy consumption in those cars comes from charged electricity. It is a very, very strong bridge solution that Volvo consumers are truly valuing. And that's why we are continuing to give love and tenderness to these cars because they're not just a bridge for this year. They're a bridge for a longer period of time.

Good. I think we've almost run out of time. Maybe the last question, I throw that to you then, Jim. During the presentation, you've laid a lot of emphasis on Volvo's balanced approach. Is this a new strategic direction of the company going forward?

No, it's not a new direction. This has been part of a strategy for quite some time. I think what's new is that I don't think that we have really pulled that out to explain in a more comprehensive and clear narrative that in order to be successful in a very disruptive industry, or an industry which is turbulent, remember we're selling cars from Tokyo to Tallahassee, And everywhere in between, we're selling it in over 90 countries. We're selling it to 16 year olds to 17 year olds. And there's a very different demand because we're selling it to countries and cities and villages and towns that have very different infrastructure in terms of charge technology. And we want to make sure that we can satisfy the needs of all of those customers. And a lot of those customers have been loyal customers for many, many years. So that gets us back to this balanced portfolio. know the products that we have the 30s the 40s the 60s the 90s the sedans the wagons the suvs we have all of that and we can satisfy those customer demands propulsion technologies meld hybrids plug-in electric hybrids really good plug-in electric hybrids that we've had for some time where it's tuned in and people can trust them very very robust um technology of course full evs and then in production We're seeing trade tariffs change around the world. So the fact that we have production in Asia and Europe and America and that we can, you know, we can modulate that and be very flexible around the production requirements. And then the partnerships and pricing. On the partnerships, that's one of the things which we'll talk about more in the Capital Markets Day, how we have been extremely mindful and choiceful in what we decide to develop in-house, be that e-motors or inverters or, you know, or in partnership. with the likes of Google or Nvidia or even Novo or even Northvolt in that sense. And that strategic approach towards getting the very best of technology through those partnerships and building the very best of technology that we think is differentiated, you put all of that together and you stand on the four pillars that Volvo has stood on for 100 years. Safety, sustainability, human-centric technology and Scandinavian design. And it's that combined strategy on that foundation, I think, that differentiates us and is allowing us to grow. We still have much more to do. We need to get our margins up, for sure. We need to get costs out of the business. And all of those plans are already well in place. So that would be my ending narrative, I guess, for today.

All right. Thank you, Jim, Bjorn, Yuan. Thanks for your time. And thank you to everyone who joined in live. Remember, the entire presentation is available on the website. And apologies if you couldn't take all your questions, but you can reach out to the media relations team for press queries, and or you can reach out to the investor relations team for questions that you want to direct more to them.