Sweden January 2020

31% Share! 

We start 2020 with good news coming from Sweden, with the local plug-in market up 94% YoY, to 5.153 registrations, pulling the PEV share to 31%(!), an amazing feat, considering that 12 months ago, we were celebrating the fact that the PEV share had reached 13%...Hockey Stick, anyone?

But in all fairness, the fact that the mainstream market had dropped 18%(!) last month (start of new WLTP taxing rules) was a decisive factor to take in account to the current number.

If we look at powertrain shares, the current disruption becomes even more visible, as gasoline was down to 37% last month (it had 41% a year ago), while diesel was down to 22%, a step 17% share loss(!) regarding the same month last year, this being another signal of the seismic changes currently happening.

The stampede-like movement away from diesel is making that even Natural Gas fueled vehicles are jumping from virtually nothing to 3% share...

Looking at last month Best Sellers, after a period of recovery from the 2018 WLTP-rules earthquake, the VW Passat GTE is back at the leadership, with the German midsizer already winning a comfortable distance from last year Best Seller, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, in #3, while the Kia Optima PHEV scored a record performance, with 486 registrations, allowing it to jump into the podium, in 2nd place.

But the real surprises came in #4 and #6, with the local heroes Volvo S/V60 PHEV and Volvo S/V90 PHEV scoring record performances, which seems to indicate that the Swedish brand is pushing its plugins at the company-car-heartland, thus becoming the new standard for that all-important buying segment.  

More record results happened in the second half of the table, with the new Kia Soul EV effectively landing in January, with a record 117 registrations, while the Audi e-Tron scored 116 units, a new record for the German SUV, after the Dutch fever  and with the production ramp up issues now a thing of the past, the big Audi can now search for its demand limits.

Another SUV coming strong is the new BMW X5 PHEV, that registered a record 116 units, so it seems the old rule "Bigger battery = Bigger sales" is true, even within the plugin hybrids category.

Finally, and highlighting Kia's strong start of the year, the just landed Kia Ceed PHEV joined the ranking in #17, making 5 Kias in the Top 20! Even Volvo doesn't have as many... 

Strangely, the only Tesla in the Top 20 is the Model S(?!?), with 86 registrations, while the Model 3, runner-up in 2019, had only 67 deliveries.

In the manufacturers ranking, Kia started the year in the lead, with 25% share, while Volvo (21%) was Second, followed by Volkswagen (13%).

Models breakdown by Fuel Source

With such a large share (31%), and with prospects to repeat these numbers in the future, i think it is time to do the same as in Norway and look at the monthly best sellers by powertrain, as such, in January we have 5 PHEVs, 1 HEV and 4 ICE models.

Looking at January Best Sellers, we see the VW Passat GTE winning the monthly title, being the best selling model, all powertrains included, with the ICE versions of the Volvo S/V60 twins (639 units) winning Silver, with another PHEV, the Kia Optima PHEV, completing the podium.

Interestingly, unplugged hybrids do not have the same importance in Sweden, that have in Norway, as only the Toyota Corolla Hybrid shows up here, and only in #9.