Sweden March 2019: Tesla Model 3 lands in 5th place in 9th straight double-digit market drop (-18.7%)

The Tesla Model 3 has landed in Sweden, and it’s already a blockbuster.

No sign of improvement for Swedish new car sales, now “celebrating” 9 consecutive months of double-digit declines (not just declines) with March down another ghastly 18.7% to 30.256, pulling the year-to-date tally down 15.5% to 73.880. The market is enduring the effect of a new bonus-malus pricing system that penalises polluting vehicles modelled on France, but that has also triggered a marked slowdown of dealership traffic. Homegrown brand leader Volvo (-37.8%) takes the brunt of the fall, posting the largest drop in the Top 14 but remaining in the lead at 17.9% share, distancing Volkswagen (-32.2%) also in dire straits at 12%. However the remainder of the Top 5 is entirely in positive, with Audi (+17%) posting a brilliant gain and both Kia (+5.4%) and Mercedes (+4.8%) also very solid. The main event in Sweden this month is the coming of age of Tesla (+458.6%) up a stunning 20 spots on February to break into the Swedish Top 10 brands for the very first time at #10. Renault (+23.4%) also shines at #9. Further down, Jaguar (+444%), Land Rover (+237.1%), Mitsubishi (+114.8%), Alfa Romeo (+34.1%), Mini (+21.6%) and Seat (+13.4%) also stand out. Reversely, Citroen (-74.4%), Opel (-69.4%), Nissan (-57.8%), Hyundai (-49.5%) and Peugeot (-35.3%) all implode.

8 Ford Puma were registered in Sweden in March, most probably prototypes for snow testing.

After giving up the throne to the VW Golf last month, Volvo reclaims domination of the Swedish models ranking and monopolises the podium with the S/V60 (+44.5%), XC60 (-41.1%) and S/V90 (-66.8%) with the VW Golf (-49.5%) relegated to 4th place. But the breaking news are just below: the Tesla Model 3 signs a thunderous arrival in Sweden, landing directly in 5th place with just over 1.000 units sold. The Mitsubishi Outlander (+215.4%) and Kia Niro (+76%) are both propelled by green variants just as the Mercedes E-Class (+12.5%) also shine in the Top 10. Further down, excellent scores reported by the Audi Q3 (+210.5%), Kia Optima (+156.9%), VW T-Roc (+151.2%), Toyota C-HR (+87%), Mercedes A-Class (+81%). Replacing the Toyota Auris, the Toyota Corolla is up 133 spots on last moth to #25. Finally, we witness the mysterious arrival of the Ford Puma at #194, whereas this model won’t be launched until 2020. The explanation could be that these 8 units were prototypes registered to endure torture test in the snow of northern Sweden.

Previous month: Sweden February 2019: VW Golf outsells all Volvos in 8th consecutive double-digit market decline

One year ago: Sweden March 2018: Volvo XC40 misses out on first Top 10 for 5 sales

Full March 2019 Top 45 All-brands and Top 253 All-models below.