Sweden April 2020

BMW X3 PHEV: a future star?

23% share in April, 27% in 2020

We start the month in Sweden, despite de Covid pandemic, local authorities haven't imposed a lockdown, advocating social distancing measures, as a consequence of this, the local plug-in market hasn't suffered as much as others, jumping to 4.270 registrations, and because the overall market fell 38%, April scored a 23% share for plugins (5,5% for BEVs only), sliding the 2020 PEV share down by 1%, to 27% (7,9% BEV). Currently BEVs only represent 29% of plugin sales.

Looking at the remaining fuels, diesel continues to drop, now at 25% share (38% a year ago), so at this pace, diesel sales will be dead by 2023...Petrol market share is also down, from 44% last year, to the current 38%, while plugless hybrids grew from 6% to 9% share.

Looking at last month Best Sellers, the Volvo midsizer twins, the S/V60 PHEV, were last month leaders, with 429 registrations, with the VW Passat GTE following right behind, with 410 units.

With Kia placing two models in the Top 5, the most surprising performance showed up in #5, with the fresh BMW X3 PHEV jumping immediately into the 5th spot, with 176 registrations, allowing it to be just 32 units from joining the 2020 table, so expect the German SUV to join the table soon. 

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Volvo S/V60 PHEV	429
2	VW Passat GTE	410
3	Kia Optima PHEV	254
4	Kia Niro PHEV	243
5	BMW X3 PHEV	176

On the 2020 ranking, it was a slow month, the podium positions remained the same, while the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV recovered the 4th spot, now making 4 PHEVs in the top positions, and soon it can be 5, as the Kia Niro PHEV is now only 15 units behind the #4 Tesla Model 3.

But BEVs have good news elsewhere, with the Audi e-Tron climbing another position, this time to #8, while the Renault Zoe is now #10, up one spot. 

Also, two of the three newcomers of the month were BEVs, with the Hyundai Kona EV and Tesla Model S rejoining the table, while the new plugin hybrid in the table is the Kia Ceed PHEV, that jumped to #18, thanks to a record 140 registrations, taking advantage of its unique positioning in the market, as it is the only plugin compact station wagon, a hot commodity in a station wagon-friendly market.

Outside the Top 20, besides the aforementioned BMW X3 PHEV, its smaller sibling, the X1 PHEV, is also making itself noticed, with 55 units, while Ford(!) has a strong candidate to a Top 20 spot, with its Kuga PHEV, with the compact SUV registering 97 units last month.

Finally, a reference to the record 62 deliveries of the VW e-Up!, after all these years, the old formula continues true: > battery = > sales.   

In the manufacturers ranking, Kia (20% share, up 2%) is back in the leadership, displacing Volvo (19%, down 2%) from the throne, while Volkswagen (12%, down 2%) closes the podium, comfortably ahead of Tesla (8%).