STOCKHOLM, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Volvo Cars set a new global sales record in 2018, breaking the 600,000 sales milestone for the first time since the company was founded in 1927, a press release said on Friday.

Compared with the same period the year before, the company's sales increased by 12.4 percent to 642,253 vehicles in 2018, making it the fifth consecutive year of global sales record for the company.

In 2017, Volvo Cars sold 571,577 vehicles, the release said. In December, the company sold a total of 60,157 vehicles, up 2.8 percent compared with the same period last year.

In 2018, U.S. sales increased by 20.6 percent to 98,263 vehicles year-on-year. In December alone, Volvo Cars sold 8,826 vehicles in the U.S. The strong performance in the U.S., China and Europe came on the back of growing demand for Volvo's award winning SUV line-up, led by the XC60. The S60 sedans, manufactured in the United States, have also started reaching dealerships and should contribute to volumes in 2019, the press release said.

In 2018, sales in China increased by 14.1 percent year-on-year to 130,593 vehicles. Demand was spearheaded by the locally assembled XC60 and S90 models. In December, total sales in the region reached 11,868 cars, up 17.9 percent.

Sales in Europe increased by 6.4 percent year-on-year to 317,838 vehicles. The robust performance was led by the new V60 and XC40 models. In December, the company sold 29,469 cars in the region.

In 2018, the XC60 was Volvo's top selling model (189,459 such vehicles sold), to be followed by the XC90 (94,182 sold), and the V40/V40 Cross Country (77,587 sold).

Volvo Cars, acquired by Chinese automaker Geely in 2010, employs 38,000 people globally.