Sweden October 2020

 

36% Share!

The local plugin market continues on fire, jumping 182% YoY, to 10.170 registrations, its second record performance in a row, with last month scoring a record 36% share for plugins, pulling the 2020 PEV share to 29%. Unfortunately, the bulk of grownth comes from PHEVs, that shooted 321% last month, to 7.840 units, against just 2.330 units from BEVs (+33%), with these last ones only representing 23% of plugin sales in October (28% YTD). Still, BEVs have 8% share of the total market (8.3% in October), while PHEVs have the remaining 21%.

Looking at the remaining fuels, in October, HEVs clocked a 12% share, versus 8% a year ago, while petrol lost 13% market share(!), now at 33%, while diesel was even worse, down 15% in share, to just 17%. 

At this pace, diesel will be död in Sweden by 2022...

Looking at last month Best Sellers, it's a PHEV fest, with Volvo securing a 1-2 win, this time with the XC60 PHEV overcoming its S/V60 PHEV siblings, while both had record performances (982 units for the XC60, 931 for the S/V60), while last month 3rd placed was the VW Passat GTE, that also secured a record score, with 882 registrations, making this a very consolidated (and mainstream) podium, as these three models also have the medal positions in the YTD ranking, and in the overall ranking, the Volvo S/V60 twins are also #1, with PHEVs representing 50% of the total sales, followed by the XC60 (of which, 66% of sales are PHEV), while the VW Passat (81% are PHEVs) is #4 (the 3rd placed is the VW Golf, with 49% of sales being PHEV and 11% BEV), so one can say that the top sellers in Sweden are merging fast with the overall market, and from now on, if someone wants to succeed in this market, it will have to be with plugins.

In the remaining positions, the VW Golf PHEV (it includes gen. 7 & 8 of the Golf GTE, plus the new eHybrid PHEV) jumped to 4th, with 761 registrations, a new record for the Golf nameplate, while in 5th, we have the Kia Ceed PHEV, benefiting from the popularity of the PHEV station wagon combo in Sweden, as the .

Interestingly, the new Golf VIII PHEV landed with a bigger bang than the brand's new ID.3 BEV (460 units in September, 212 in October), so it seems the plugin Golf will have an important role to play in a number of markets, this being one of them.

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Volvo XC60 PHEV	982
2	Volvo S/V60 PHEV	931
3	VW Passat GTE	882
4	VW Golf PHEV	761
5	Kia Ceed PHEV	373

Looking at the 2020 ranking, the top positions remained the same, with the only position changes happening in the Top 10 being the Kia Ceed climbing to #7, making it 3 Kias in the Top 7 spots, while the VW Golf PHEV (Gen. VII & VIII) jumped 4 positions, to #10.

On the second half of the table we have the BMW 330e jumping three spots, to #15, thanks to a record 370 deliveries, most of them being the new Touring (aka station wagon) version. 

But there were also some good news on the BEV side, with the Polestar 2 climbing one position, to #18, while the veteran Nissan Leaf, in #16, registered its best result this year, with 189 units, although that is nothing compared to the performance of another oldtimer, the VW e-Golf, that despite having its ID.3 successor already on the market, had its swan song last month, with 166 deliveries, its best score in 2 years(!), allowing it to reappear (momentarily, i would guess) in the table, in #20.

Outside the Top 20, besides the aforementioned 212 deliveries of the VW ID.3, we should mention also the ramp up of Mercedes, with two models (GLE350e/de - 132 units; GLC300e/de - 145) scoring record deliveries, while Audi is doing the same to the Q5 PHEV, by delivering 147 units, the model's second record score in a row, as the PHEV technology is fast becoming the immediate successor to the diesel best sellers. 

Interestingly, there is another Kia plugin hybrid rising to stardom, with the Xceed PHEV, a stylish hatchback desguised as crossover (so, it is a crossover between a compact hatchback and a...crossover SUV? Is it a Crossover crossover?), that delivered 302 units last month, while the niche MX-30 from Mazda had 103 registrations last month, proving to be a popular proposal, considering the leftfield thinking behind it.

In the manufacturers ranking, Volvo is comfortably in the lead, with 24% share (up 2%), thanks to the success of its midsize offerings, while Kia (19%, up 1%) keeps the 2nd place, and Volkswagen (13%, up 1%) closes the podium, ahead of Tesla (5%, down 2%).