Sweden February 2020: Volvo XC40 up to record 2nd place in market down -6.3%

The Volvo XC40 smashes its ranking record at home to hit #2 in February.

The Swedish new car market drops -6.3% year-on-year in February to 21.694 registrations, leading to a year-to-date tally down -11.8% to 38.492. Sales of rechargeable cars (EV+PHEV) surge another 95% in February to 25.1% of the market vs. a record 30.8% last month,, meaning the year-to-date share of rechargeable vehicles is now 27.7% vs. 12.4% over the same period in 2019. Bilsweden anticipates a 30% share for the Full Year 2020. Homegrown brand leader Volvo (+3.3%) goes against the negative grain of the market to reach 21.5% share vs. 19.3% so far in 2020, reclaiming the top spot off Volkswagen (-14.3%) both for the month and YTD. Kia (+16%) is extremely strong in third place, distancing Toyota (+63.5%) in even better shape. Fiat (+11.6%), Audi (+7.3%), Hyundai (+6.7%) and Seat (+4.3%) are the only additional gainers in the Top 15 just as Nissan (-71.1%), Ford (-45.1%), Mitsubishi (-38.6%) and Renault (-36.8%) plummet down. Tesla (+135.7%), Porsche (+75.6%), Citroen (+37%) and Land Rover (+22.7%) also shine further down.

In the models ranking, the Volvo S/V60 (+18.3%) very solidly holds onto the pole position it grabbed over the FY2019, but the winner this month is the Volvo XC40 (+160.4%), smashing its ranking record at #2 (vs. #5 in November 2018) and share record at 5.1% (vs. 3.6% last December) partly thanks to a new PHEV variant accounting for 11% of its January volume. The Kia Niro (+45.4%) is brilliantly stuck at a record-breaking #3 spot for the 2nd straight month, with the Volvo XC60 (-7.4%) and VW Passat (+86.5%) in tow. The Toyota C-HR (+71.4%), BMW 3 Series (+62.8%), Kia Optima (+58.1%) and Skoda Octavia (+22.7%) also impress in the remainder of the Top 12. The VW T-Cross (#13) is by far the most popular recent launch, well above the Tesla Model 3 (#53), Skoda Kamiq (#64) and Scala (#67).

Previous month: Sweden January 2020: Kia, VW Group strong, EV+PHEV sales hit record 30.8% share in market down -17.9%

One year ago: Sweden February 2019: VW Golf outsells all Volvos in 8th consecutive double-digit market decline

Full February 2020 Top 40 All-brands and Top 217 All-models below.