Sweden March 2013: Volvo V40 now in the race

Volvo V40

* See the Top 60 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

2013 is shaping up to be a pretty average year for new car sales in Sweden, as it is the case in most of Europe: March is down 21% year-on-year to 22,493 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 56,074 units, down 18% on 2012. The March podium is relatively expected: the Volvo V70 leads the way with 1,482 sales and 6.6%, followed by the Volvo S/V60 at 1,275 units and 5.7% and the VW Passat with 1,263 sales and 5.6%. It’s the 4th place that generates the most interest: after a shaky start at home, the Volvo V40 now seems to be on a winning streak, steadily increasing its market share from 2% in December, 3.4% in January, 4.2% in February and a record 4.5% this month, breaking the symbolic 1,000 monthly unit-barrier for the first time at 1,005.

Now that it has gained some real traction, can the V40 go further and threaten the V70 for the pole position? It will be a long shot, simply because the Swedish consumer is in love with large station wagons: on top of the V70 which has topped the sales charts for the last 16 consecutive years, the V60 outsells the S60 10 to 1 and the Passat is sold mostly in its SW version in the country. The V40 is a compact car that plays in the VW Golf ‘s sandpit and has won against the German best-seller for the last 3 months running, but flirting with the top will be a real challenge. After all, the last compact car to hold the pole position in Sweden was… the Volvo Amazon in 1967!

There are a lot of other models performing extremely well in Sweden this month: the Toyota Avensis is up 24 spots to #7, the Nissan Qashqai up 9 to #9, Skoda Octavia up 2 to $12, Fiat Ducato up to #22, Kia Rio up to #23, Mercedes A-Class at #27, Honda Civic at #31, Subaru Forester at #33, Seat Ibiza at #37. The Opel Mokka points its bonnet in 52nd place, the Mazda CX-5 is up to #55 vs. 114 over the Full Year 2012 and the Mazda6 is up to #60 vs. #122 thanks to the new generation.

Previous month: Sweden February 2013: Volvo V40 up to best-ever #4

One year ago: Sweden March 2012: Volvo V70, V60 and VW Passat sovereign

Full March 2013 Top 60 models Ranking Table below.