STOCKHOLM, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Volvo Cars reported record sales in 2017, as global sales rose 7.0 percent compared to 2016 to 571,577 cars, driven by growth in all regions.

According to a press release on Thursday, the company's sales, in the Asia Pacific region, grew by 20.9 percent on the back of a record performance in China, Volvo's largest market, where sales increased 25.8 percent compared with 2016.

Meanwhile, sales in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region grew by 3.3 percent in 2017 from a year earlier, while the Americas region grew by 0.7 percent.

Sales of the new XC60 and the 90-series cars were the main drivers, said the press release.

In 2017, the company announced that it would place electrification at the core of its future business and stated that every car it launches from 2019 will have an electric motor, marking the end of cars that only have an internal combustion engine.

Volvo Cars during the past year opened up an entirely new market as it signed a framework agreement with Uber to sell tens of thousands of autonomous driving compatible base cars to the ride-hailing company between 2019 and 2021.

Acquired by Chinese automaker Geely in 2010, Volvo Cars employs over 31,000 people worldwide.