Sweden July 2021: Kia places Ceed and Niro atop market off -26.2%

The Kia Ceed is the best-selling vehicle in Sweden in July.

New car sales in Sweden fall off a cliff in July at -26.2% year-on-year to just 16.778 units, leading to a year-to-date tally up 28% to 189.941. Rechargeable vehicles are down -5.9% year-on-year to 6.312 units and 37.6% share vs. 29.5% a year ago, however this is markedly down on the 49.4% it hit last month. PHEV sales are down -30.1% to 3.777 and 22.5% share vs. 23.8% a year ago but BEVs are up 94.6% to 2.535 and 15.1% share vs. 5.7% in June 2020. The microchip crisis and its associated stock shortages has affected manufacturers in different ways and as a result the cards are redistributed in the brands ranking this month.

Volkswagen (-26.7%) follows the market to remain in first place with 13.2% share but Kia (-15.7%) is up one spot on June to land in 2nd place, breaking its market share record at 12.2%. This means Volvo (-59.3%), imploding this month, is relegated to third position with a meagre 11.2% share vs. 17.8% so far this year. Toyota (+21.1%) ignores the surrounding gloom to surge to 9.7% share vs. 8.5% YTD, with Seat (-3.3%), Peugeot (-15.6%) and Audi (-19.6%) also resisting better than the market in the remainder of the Top 10. Below, Subaru (+164.4%), Opel (+92.7%), Suzuki (+10.9%), Dacia (+9.6%), Hyundai (+7.6%), Citroen (+2.9%) and Lexus (+2.8%) are among carmakers bucking the negative trend.

Model-wise, we have a historical first: after the Kia Niro snapped its first Swedish crown last August, Kia does one better this month by managing a stunning 1-2. The Kia Ceed (+1.2%) manages to increase its volume year-on-year to lodge its first ever Swedish pole position while the Kia Niro (-11.6%) is up 7 spots on June to end the month in 2nd place. Still by far the leader year-to-date, the Volvo S/V60 (-62.3%) loses almost two-thirds of its July 2020 volume and drops to #3 for the month. The Toyota Corolla (+10.4%) and RAV4 (+37.3%) lodge the only double-digit year-on-year gains in the Top 10 whereas the Volvo XC60 (-57.3%), XC40 (-55.9%) and VW Golf (-54.8%) all freefall. Just outside the Top 10, the Toyota Yaris (+248.5%) and Seat Leon (+78.4%) post stellar gains while the Peugeot 3008 is also solid. The VW ID.3 (#22) is the best-selling recent launch in Sweden above the Ford Mustang Mach-E (#26), VW ID.4 (#27), Citroen C4 (#29) and MG ZS (#30) down 28 spots on June. 

Previous month: Sweden June 2021: MG ZS shoots up to #2 in market up 45.9%

One year ago: Sweden July 2020: Kia, Mercedes, Audi thin market fall to -4%

Full July 2021 Top 40 All-brands and Top 240 All-models below.