Netherlands January 2021: Volvo XC40 secures first ever win in market down -20%

The Volvo XC40 is the #1 vehicle in the Netherlands in January. Picture dagelijksauto.nl

New car sales in the Netherlands are down -20% year-on-year in January to 35.193 units. Volkswagen (-45.9%) more than doubles the market fall a very high year-ago comparison base, yet the brand drops to 10.3% share vs. 12.5% over the Full Year 2020. BMW (+6.6%) rallies back up 17 spots on December to land in 2nd place overall with a splendid 9.1% share while Skoda (+27.4%) is up to #3 and 7.1% share vs. #9 and 4.7% over the Full Year 2020. Volvo (+9%) and Mercedes (+1.4%) also manage an uptick in the remainder of the Top 10 just as Ford (-8.9%) and Kia (-16%) resists somewhat. Artificially boosted to #10 by rushed EV registrations in December, Polestar falls back to #28 this month.

Model-wise, the Volvo XC40 (+95.5%) surfs on the success of its new eco-friendly variants to sign its first ever monthly win in the Netherlands at just under 3% share. It is followed this month by the Kia Picanto (+7.3%) also up year-on-year. The Skoda Octavia (+59.1%) leaps up 18 spots on December to #3 ahead of the VW Polo (-57%) and Ford Focus (-39%) both in great difficulty. The Toyota Yaris (+40.6%), Peugeot 208 (+26.4%) and Ford Fiesta (+2.5%) also post year-on-year gains in the remainder of the Top 10. Leader over the Full Year 2020, the Kia Niro (-27%) drops to #9 for the month. As to be expected, the models that had artificially rushed sales in December now post minuscule volumes: the VW ID.3 goes from #1 last month to #115, the VW ID.4 from #4 to #112, the Audi e-tron from #5 to #116 and the Polestar 2 from #7 to #100.

Previous post: Netherlands Full Year 2020: Kia Niro, VW ID.3 and Hyundai Kona top market down -20%

One year ago: Netherlands January 2020: Volkswagen places 6 models in Top 12 in market down -7.1%

Full January 2021 Top 48 All-brands and Top 260 All-models below.