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Sweden August 2020: Kia Niro snaps historical crown, Polestar outsells Tesla in worsening market (-13.4%)

The Kia Niro is the best-selling vehicle in Sweden in August.

Starting off a high comparison base as August 2019 was the second largest ever score for the month, new car sales in Sweden drop -13.4% year-on-year this month to 25.522 units, leading to a year-to-date tally down -21.3% to 173.925. Rechargeable cars (BEV+PHEV) soar 178.5% year-on-year to 7.402 and 29% share vs. just 8.9% a year ago and are up 91.2% YTD to 46.675 and 26.8% vs. 10.9% over the same period in 2019. As is the custom in August when Volvo all but closes shop for the summer holidays, Volkswagen (-15.2%) takes the lead of the brands charts at 14.6% share, distancing Volvo (-17.3%) at 13.4%. It is Volkswagen’s 10th August victory in the past 11 years (only exception in 2017). Kia (+25%) continues to buck the overall negative trend, scoring the largest year-on-year gain in the Top 9 and cementing its third place YTD above Toyota (+14.2%) also in great shape this month. Hyundai (+51.8%) secures the best improvement in the Top 10, Peugeot (+2.5%) is also up and Mercedes (-2.6%) and Audi (-11.2%) contain their fall somewhat but Skoda (-38.5%) and BMW (-21.2%) are both in dire straits. Albeit not a spectacular as in neighbouring Norway, Polestar shoots up 12 spots on July to break into its home Top 20 for the first time at #17 with 1.1% share, notably outselling Tesla (-26.2%).

Polestar breaks into its home Top 20 brands and outsells Tesla.

The models ranking is the theatre of a momentous event: for the first time in Swedish history a non-European nameplate is the best-seller: the Kia Niro (+73.8%) smashing its volume record at 1.222 (previous best 938 last February) but not its share record at 4.8% (vs. 4.9% in July 2018). This is also the first time neither a Volvo or a Volkswagen is the monthly #1 vehicle in Sweden, over the past decade the VW Golf (11 times) and Passat (once in August 2013) were the only non-Volvo models to have managed to win monthly until now. Niro sales come at 51% from the PHEV variant and at 29% from the EV model, that 80% rechargeable sales. The VW Golf (-19.1%) is back up 4 spots on July to #2, the Volvo XC60 (+25.9%) is down one to #3, the Toyota Corolla (+79.7%) surges 8 spots to #4 and the Volvo S/V60 (-29%) drops four to #5 but easily remains in the YTD lead with just over 11.800 sales vs. 6.650 for the #2, the Volvo XC60. The Volvo XC40 (+106.1%), Kia Ceed (+54.1%), Toyota RAV4 (+40.4%) and VW Passat (+25.9%) also post extraordinary gains in the remainder of the Top 10. The Polestar 2 shoots up 69 spots on last month to top recent launches at #23, toppling the Ford Puma (#58) and Skoda Kamiq (#69).

Previous month: Sweden July 2020: Kia (+26.3%), Mercedes (+13.7%), Audi (+12.65) thin market fall to -4%

One year ago: Sweden August 2019: VW #1, Toyota (+46.4%), Skoda (+44%), Volvo (+34.4%) lift market up 19.5%

Full August 2020 Top 45 All-brands, Top 235 All-models and Top 10 rechargeable models below.

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