Sweden Full Year 2020: Podium 100% Volvo for the first time in history, VW ID.3 #1 in December

The Volvo S/V60 repeats at #1 at home.

Discover over 70 years of Swedish Historical Data here

The Swedish new car market is off -18.1% year-on-year in 2020 to 291.664 units, keeping in mind 2019 was the third best year in history so a very high comparison base. The main success story of the year is the record success of rechargeable cars (PHEV and BEV) up 132% year-on-year to 93.938 and 32.2% share vs. just 11.3% in 2019. PHEVs are driving Sweden’s electrification at +166% this year while BEVs are up 79%. Rechargeable cars are now more popular than diesel vehicles (see graph below), in fact PHEV sales alone are now ahead of diesel sales.

Sweden annual sales 1960-2020 with 2021 forecast. Source: Bilsweden

Volvo (-19.3%) remains in control of the brands ranking at home even if it sees its share slide slightly from 18.3% to 18.1%. Remarkably, the next  6 best-selling brands all beat the market. Volkswagen (-12.5%) improves its share by one percentage point from 13.7% to 14.7%, Kia (-1%) is up 1.5 point to 8.6% and Toyota (-0.7%) up 1.4 point to 7.8%. Mercedes (-7.7%), Audi (-9.4%) and BMW (-16.2%) also all improve their Swedish market share this year. Hyundai (+1.1%) and Porsche (+4%) lodge the only year-on-year gains in the Top 20. 2020 saw the launch of Volvo’s luxury green brand Polestar, which peaked at a splendid #16 and 2% in September and ends the year at #26 with 1.640 sales. Although not as bright as in neighbouring Norway, this is nonetheless a good start for the brand.

Sales % by fuel type. In Orange: Rechargeable cars (PHEV+BEV). Source: Bilsweden

For the first time in Swedish history, the models podium is 100% Volvo in 2020. It seems odd that this would be the first time it occurs, but for most of the past 70 years, the #2 model in Sweden was a Saab, then replaced by a Volkswagen. The Volvo S/V60 (-19.9%) repeats at #1 with a stable share at 6.4%, the Volvo XC60 (-7.2%) is up two spots to #2 and the Volvo XC40 (+35.6%) surges 5 ranks to land at #3 thanks to its new PHEV and EV variants, signing its first ever monthly win at home in November. The VW Golf (-30.7%) follows ahead of the VW Passat (+9.9%) and Volvo S/V90 (-38.2%). The Toyota RAV4 (+42.6%), Kia Niro (+11.4%) and Ceed (+9.7%) also manage market-defying gains in the Top 10. The most successful new launch of 2020 in Sweden is the VW ID.3 (#15): it simply ranked #1 overall in December…

Previous month: Sweden November 2020: Volvo XC40 signs first ever win, VW ID.3 up to #6 in market down -12.9%

Previous year: Sweden 2019: Last minute surge edges market up 0.6%, Volvo S/V60 snaps first lead

Two years ago: Sweden 2018: First annual win for Volvo S/V90, H2 freefall pulls market down 6.8%

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

Full Year 2020 Top 55 All-brands and Top 330 All-models vs. Full Year 2019 figures below.