2013 (Half Year) Sweden: Best-Selling Electric Cars and Plug-in Hybrids

The Volvo V60 N Laddhybrid, Toyota Prius Plug-in and Nissan Leaf were Sweden’s favorite super clean cars for the first six months of 2013.

Car Electric Loading Station at Geneva Auto Salon

Plug-in hybrid cars increased in popularity in Sweden during the first half of 2013. Electric cars, however, struggled to compete with fewer sold between January and June 2013 than the year before. The plug-in hybrid Volvo V60 N Laddhybrid and Toyota Prius Plug-in where the most popular super clean cars in Sweden while the Nissan Leaf was the only electric car that had sold in any numbers this year in Sweden.

Best-Selling Electric and Plug-in Hybrid Cars in Sweden in 2013 (Half Year)

New passenger vehicle registration data of super clean cars sold during the first six months of 2013 in Sweden according to BILSweden is as follows:

HY/2013 HY/2012 Q1/2013 FY 2012 FY 2011
1 Volvo S60 N Laddhybrid 414 0 352 42 0
2 Toyota Prius Plug-in 239 0 137 499 0
3 Nissan Leaf 145 51 83 129 0
4 Volvo C30 Electric 22 48 13 88 48
5 Opel Ampera 9 49 2 88 0
6 Chevrolet Volt 4 1 2 29 31
7 Citroen C-Zero 2 19 1 33 0
Peugeot iOn 0 8 0 9 28
Mitsubishi iMiev 0 5 0 9 71
Smart for Two EV 0 2 0 2 0
Total 835 183 590 928 178
Source: BILSweden

Top-Selling Super Clean Cars in Sweden in 2013 (First Half)

During the first six months of 2013, a total of 128,900 cars (-9.6%) were registered in Sweden. Of these, only 835 were super clean cars, i.e. electric and plug-in hybrid cars that produce less than 50 g/km of CO2 emissions. Only 1,944 such cars have been registered in Sweden since January 2011.

The most popular plug-in hybrid cars in Sweden during the first half of 2013 were again the Volvo V60 N Laddhybrid and the Toyota Prius Plug-in. However, for both model sales were sharply down during the second quarter of 2013 compared to the first three months of the year.

Sales of electric cars in Sweden during the first half of 2013 were actually lower than a year ago. The Nissan Leaf was the most popular electric car in Sweden during the first six months of 2013 with sales of other models now fairly insignificant. It is unlikely that the market for electric cars will grow much until the launch of newer models later this year or early next year such as the Renault Zoe, Volkswagen Up and BMW i3.

Electric Light Delivery Vehicles in Sweden 2013 (Half Year)

Sales of electric light delivery vehicles in Sweden increased during the first six months of 2013, although from very low numbers:

Model HY/2013 HY/2012 Q1/2013 Q1/2012
1 Renault Kangoo ZE 125 87 45 4
2 Mercedes Vito 4 0 4 0
TOTAL 129 87 49 4

Electric light vehicles in Sweden are very much a one-car game at the moment with the Renault Kangoo ZE the only real contender. However, the Peugeot Partner and Citroen Berlingo may start to offer alternatives in the near future.

In neighboring Norway, in a much smaller car market, over ten times more electric cars were sold during the first half of 2013 than in Sweden.

About the author:

Henk Bekker

Henk Bekker is a freelance writer with over 20 years of experience in online writing. His best-selling cars website has been reporting car sales statistics since 2008 with classic car auction prices focusing on the most expensive automobiles sold at public auctions in the past decade. He also owns the travel websites European-Traveler.com and Lake Geneva Switzerland. Henk holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and an MSc in Finance from the University of London.