TORSLANDA, Sweden -

Due in part to continuing low demand, especially in Europe — one of its biggest markets — Volvo is halting production for a week this month, the OEM revealed Monday.

The company said in a statement it will halt production from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 at its Torslanda plant in western Sweden, reducing output by about 3,000 vehicles.

This comes on top of a cut in the plant's production rate to 50 cars per hour from 57 cars that came into effect on Oct. 1.

"There are no plans for changes to the permanent work force at the Torslanda plant," Volvo officials shared.

The production cut comes in light of the company falling short of its new ownership’s goals.

Volvo was sold by Motor Co. to Chinese group Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Ltd, in 2010, and the Chinese company was aiming to double its sales to 800,000 vehicles by 2020, shared a Reuters report written by Patrick Lannin.

“But it has been hindered by the European economic downturn, slower Chinese demand and internal divisions,” the report explained.

"Europe is the main market for Volvo Car Corporation, and the continued recession is naturally affecting the demand for our cars," chief financial officer, and acting chief executive officer, Jan Gurander said in a statement. Gurander is standing in for hief executive Stefan Jacoby after he suffered a stroke last month.

Just how important is Europe to Volvo sales?

The Reuters report shared that in the first half of this year, Europe accounted for 50 percent of Volvo sales of 221,309 cars, with the United States taking 15 percent and China just over just over 9 percent.

And though the European market is faltering for the OEM, the report explained that Volvo's target of sales of 800,000 cars by 2020, from 450,000 last year, “has been pinned on a big boost in sales to China, where it is building a production plant.”

That said, it doesn’t look like the Volvo name is increasing in popularity in the East as much as expected.

Jacoby explained to a Swedish newspaper before his stroke that Volvo was unlikely to meet its goal to sell 200,000 cars a year in China by 2015, the report stated.

Volvo sold about 47,000 cars in China last year and is likely to sell 45,000 to 46,000 this year, Jacoby said.

Volvo officials explained the decision to temporarily stop production means that the Torslanda plant employees will be on leave with pay through a combination of utilizing time banks and leave of absence.