Sweden June 2020: Volumes down -22.2% despite strong rechargeable sales (+86%)

Peugeot (+21.2%) posts the best performance of any Top 15 carmaker. Picture teknikensvarld.se

Swedish new car sales slow down their fall in June but still reel from the coronavirus crisis at -22.2% year-on-year to 24.747 units, bringing the H1 2020 volume down -25.1% to 125.685. Rechargeable cars (EV and PHEV) buck the trend with a 86% year-on-year surge to 6.377 and 25.8% share vs. 10.8% a year ago, leading to a year-to-date tally up 68.1% to 32.568 units and 25.9% share vs. 11.5% over the First Half of 2019. However these figures should be higher as there is now a supply shortage of rechargeable cars in Sweden due to factory closures across Europe in the past few months.

Brand leaders Volvo (+2.4%) and Volkswagen (+1.7%) also brilliantly buck the depressed market to hit 23.6% and 14% share respectively, with Audi (-19.4%) also slightly outpacing the market at #3 but Kia (-33.6%) endures a rare counter-performance in June. Peugeot (+21.2%) posts the largest year-on-year gain in the Top 10 (and Top 15) while Mercedes (-15.9%) and BMW (-20.4%) also resist a little better than the market but Toyota (-52%) and Renault (-52%) implode. Further down, Lamborghini (+133.3%), Smart (+50%), Land Rover (+41.3%), Ferrari (+33.3%), Porsche (+32.4%), Citroen (+18.7%), DS (+12.5%) and Lexus (+3.6%) stand out with gains just as Polestar scores its first double-digit sales month at home thanks to the arrival of the 2.

Model-wise, the Volvo S/V60 (+1.4%) easily retains the top spot it also hold YTD, while the Volvo XC60 (+77.3%) surges to #2 and 5.2% share vs. 3.6% so far in 2020, knocking the Volvo S/V90 (+2.1%) to #3. This means the podium is entirely in positive and Volvo now also monopolises the YTD podium. Below the VW Golf (-20.6%) roughly matching the market, the Volvo XC40 (+36.3%) rallies back up 10 spots to #5, its 4th Top 5 finish at home, 3 of them having occurred in the past 6 months. The VW Passat (+43.4%) and Fiat Ducato (+29.9%) also impress in the Top 10, the latter due to a surge in motorhome purchases in a similar trend to that we observed in Germany. The Volvo XC60 is the best-selling green car in above the Volvo V60 and VW Passat.

Previous month: Sweden May 2020: COVID-19 crisis deepens to -50.2%, Hyundai and Land Rover up

One year ago: Sweden June 2019: Kia (+3.9%), Tesla (+560.5%) survive in 12th consecutive double-digit market decline (-51.9%)

Full June 2020 Top 45 All-brands and Top 240 All-models below.