Sweden May 2020

BMW X3 PHEV: a future star?

22% share in May, 26% in 2020

We start the month in Sweden, where we are witnessing market still hit by the pandemic, if local dealerships weren't closed during the past few months in Sweden, most of the automotive factories elsewhere were, which lead that some models had low inventory levels and disrupted their usual registration levels, while others, with lower level of demand, or that re-started production earlier, have been less affected.

Looking specifically at plugins, one can't really complain, as they continued to grow YoY, while the overall market crashed 50% in May…Because of this, May scored a 22% share for plugins (5,3% for BEVs only), sliding the 2020 PEV share down by 1%, to 26% (7,4% BEV). Currently BEVs are receiding, only representing 29% of plugin sales.

Looking at the remaining fuels, diesel continues to drop, now at 26% share (36% a year ago), so at this pace, diesel sales will be dead by 2023...Petrol market share is also down, from 46% last year, to the current 42%, while plugless hybrids grew from 8% to 10% share.

Looking at last month Best Sellers, there weren't big surprises, with Volvo and Kia placing two models each, the Volvo midsizer twins, the S/V60 PHEV were last month leaders, with 296 registrations, with the Kia Niro PHEV following right behind, with 262 units.

The most surprising performance ended just below this Top 5, with the fresh BMW X3 PHEV in the 6th spot, with 165 registrations. In Station-Wagon country, when you (still) don't have a Wagon PHEV, the respective SUV counterpart is sure to become a Best Seller... 

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Volvo S/V60 PHEV	296
2	Kia Niro PHEV	262
3	VW Passat GTE	247
4	Volvo XC60 PHEV	210
5	Kia Optima PHEV	196

On the 2020 ranking, the podium positions remained the same, but the Kia Niro PHEV jumped two spots, to #4, while we have two Volvo's climbing positions in the Top 10, with the XC60 PHEV up two positions, to #7, while the big twins S/V90 PHEV reached #10 last month, making 3 models from the Swedish brand in the Top 10.

In the second half of the table there's also plenty to talk about, in the BEV field, the Nissan Leaf jumped to #13, while the eternal VW e-Golf rejoined the table, in #18, while on the PHEV side, the Kia Ceed is proving popular, going up to #16 (having a SW body helps in Sweden...), while the BMW X3 PHEV joined the ranking, #17, and the current sales pace (165 units in May), i guess a Top 10 position for the German SUV is not impossible. 

Outside the Top 20, a mention to the Ford Kuga PHEV (100 units, new record), that is a strong candidate for a Top 20 spot, which would be a first for the American maker. 

In the manufacturers ranking, Volvo (20%, up 1%) returned to the leadership, displacing Kia (19% share, down 1%) from the throne, while Volkswagen (13%, up 1%) closes the podium, comfortably ahead of Tesla, BMW and Mitsubishi, all with 6% share each.