Sweden Full Year 2017: Volvo reclaims #1 models spot with old gen XC60

January 8, 2018
Matt Gasnier

The old gen Volvo XC60 pushes the nameplate to a historical win in 2017 at home

* See the Top 50 All-brands and Top 330 All-models by clicking on the title *

Consult 67 years worth of Swedish Historical Data here

New car sales in Sweden establish an all-time annual volume record for the second consecutive year in 2017 at +1.9% to 379.393 units. Bilsweden’s forecast for 2018 is a a 5% decline to 360.000 units, as a new July 1, 2018 bonus-malus system favourable to low-emissions cars and similar to the one already in place in France will wreak havoc on registrations. In 2017, the diesel sales rate dropped below 50% at 49.1% vs. 52.3% last year. At 65.299 sales, green cars hold 17.2% of the market vs. 16.5% in 2016. Local behemoth Volvo improves its market share by almost one percentage point to just under 20% thanks to deliveries up 6%. It is followed like last year by Volkswagen (-1%) while Kia (+6%), Toyota (+3%) and BMW (-3%) overtake Audi (-9%) to land at #3, #4 and #5 respectively. This is Kia’s first ever Swedish annual podium. Peugeot (+17%), Mercedes (+16%) and Renault (+11%) post the largest year-on-year gains in the Top 10. Below, Ssangyong (+277%), Alfa Romeo (+135%), Chevrolet (+80%), Lotus (+57%), Smart (+30%), Bentley (+27%), Aston Martin (+26%), Land Rover (+17%), Porsche (+16%), Citroen (+12%), Mini (+11%) and Tesla (+11%) make themselves noticed.

The Volvo S/V90 lands at #2 for its first full year in market.

In the models ranking, last year Volvo lost the #1 spot for the first time in 54 years to the VW Golf, but the carmaker reclaims the lead in 2017. There is a twist though: instead of the traditional leading Volvo station wagons, for the first time in Swedish history, a crossover is in the annual position: the XC60 thanks to sales up 48% to 6.3% share. But far from being the result of a smashing success for the introduction of the new generation, the XC60 #1 spot is due to the previous generation remaining in production and sold at discounted prices throughout summer. It topped the monthly rankings in April, May and from July to October, peaking at 8.5% share in September. As of end-November, the old XC60 accounted for 86% of the nameplate’s YTD sales (19.451) with the new gen at a meagre 14% (3.184). Widely expected to be the 2017 winner, the Volvo S/V90 leaps up 438% on 2016 but lands in 2nd place at 6% share for its first full year in market. It ranked #1 in February, March, June, November and December when it peaked at 7.5% share. In all logic it should top the Swedish 2018 annual charts as the XC60 new generation (now that the old one has truly been discontinued) seems too weak to hold the #1 spot on its own.

First annual Top 10 ranking in Sweden for the VW Tiguan. Picture autoweb.com

Historical leader in 2016 and also ranking #1 in January 2017, the VW Golf drops 9% this year to #3 with a still strong 5.3% share and ending the year above 20.000 units for the third consecutive year. The Volvo S/V60 (-10%) drops one spot to #4, the VW Passat (-4%) holds onto its #5 ranking as does the Volvo V40 (-17%) at #6. The VW Tiguan more than doubles its sales on 2016 (+119%) and climbs 12 spots to break into the annual Swedish Top 10 for the first time at #7. The BMW 5 Series (+23%) also impresses and gains 6 ranks to #8. Notice also the Mercedes E-Class up 33% to #12, the Fiat Ducato up 21% to #15, Renault Clio up 16% to #17, the Toyota C-HR (#23) and Kia Niro (#24) landing inside the Top 25 for their first full year in market, the Peugeot 3008 boosted up 294% to #25 by the new model, the Renault Megane up 52% to #27 and the Mercedes GLC up 76% to #31. The Skoda Kodiaq is the best-selling new launch for 2017 at #49 ahead of the Kia Stonic (#136) and VW Arteon (#138).

Sweden 1960-2017 annual sales + 2018 forecast. Source: bilsweden.se