EVs At 68.4% Share In Sweden – Tesla Still In The Fight

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September’s auto sales saw plugin EVs at 68.4% share in Sweden, up from 65.0% year-on-year. BEVs were down, and PHEVs were up. Overall auto volume was 25,199 units, down by some 2% YoY. The Tesla Model Y was the best-selling BEV.

September’s auto sales showed combined plugin EVs at 68.4% share in Sweden, with full electrics (BEVs) at 38.2% and plugin hybrids (PHEVs) at 30.2%. These figures compare YoY against 65.0% combined, 44.8% BEVs and 20.2% PHEVs.

The September 2024 baseline for BEV share was anomalously high, with Tesla delivering its highest ever volume (4,793 units) and over 40% of all BEVs that month. Tesla’s more normal volumes this time around (1,766 units) mean that the total BEV volume is actually down YoY by around 17%. The 38.2% BEV share last month was nevertheless the second highest monthly share of 2025, so not a bad result, just not as high as September 2024’s outlandish share.

Stepping back to look at the year-to-date figures, combined EVs now stand at 62.0% with 35.4% BEV, and 26.6% PHEV share. This compares to 2024’s equivalent YTD shares of 56.9%, 34.0% BEV, and 22.9% PHEV. This is obviously a welcome improvement, though BEV growth is marginal. It obscures, however, that BEV share is down from where it was in 2023, with YTD shares of 59.2% combined, 38.7% BEV, and 20.4% PHEV.

Bear in mind also that back in 2023, few small-and-affordable BEV models were available, whereas there are many such models available today. On the other hand, 2023 still had the tail end of incentives in place for vehicles ordered before the cut-off in November 2022.

One small silver lining is that – due to the growth of PHEVs, and to a lesser extent, of HEVs – at least sales of combustion-only vehicles are continuing to steadily diminish. These dipped to a new low of 21.5% (combined) in September, and will likely fall below 20% for the first time by the end of this year.

Best Selling BEV Models

September has historically been one of Tesla’s biggest months of the year in Sweden, and this year was no exception, with the Model Y seeing its highest volumes of 2025 so far, with 1,425 units.

In second place was the Volvo EX40, with 845 units, and the Volkswagen ID.7 came third, with 572 units.

Most of the month-on-month ranking changes came from quarterly logistics variations (e.g. Tesla, Polestar 2), though a couple of models stood out as having solid performances. The Mercedes EQA had its best month of the year, with 226 units (almost twice its recent average), and took 12th position. The Renault 5 had its highest volume yet, with 178 units, taking 17th spot.

The only debutant in September was the new Kia EV4, which saw 4 initial units. These are demonstration units for now (the EV4 is not yet listed on the Kia website), so we will have to wait another couple of months for pricing information and to see this model reach customer volume.

August’s notable debutant, the new Mercedes CLA sedan, increased its volume dramatically from the initial 30 units, up to 119 units in September, and leapt up to 23rd spot. At this rate, we should expect it to enter the top 20 next month already, a solid result.

The Renault 4, which had seen just single-digit sample units in July and August, stepped up to a decent 51 units in September. The new Volvo ES90 sedan jumped from August’s 22 units, to 46 units in September.

Now for the 3-month rankings:

The Volvo EX40’s monthly consistency sees it retain the top spot, despite the Tesla Model Y’s September exuberance. The Tesla did however recover two spots from its Q2 result (4th), so it not completely out of the fight just yet.

The only notable sustained climb into the limelight recently has come from the Renault 5, which climbed to 14th spot in Q3, from 26th in Q2, a good result, and likely with a bit further still to ascend.

Further back, the Zeekr 7x (launched in March) seems to have found stability just outside the top 20 (28th spot in Q3), averaging around 100 units per month, a decent result. The new Mercedes CLA will be knocking on the door of the top 20 next month, and should enter the chart by November.

An outside bet right now is on the new Renault 4 getting close to the top 20 ranking by December – we will know by next month’s sales what its early growth trajectory is looking like.

Outlook

It’s still disappointing to see BEVs not making more significant progress in Sweden, which was once one of the leading 2 countries in the EV transition. Sales of PHEVs with 80+ km of range are certainly an improvement over sales of non-plugins, but the 2019 to 2022 trajectory pointed to BEVs being at least 50% of the market by late 2025. We are still far from where we should be.

The Swedish macroeconomy is currently faring better than many European neighbours, with Q2 2025 (latest data) recording 1.4% YoY GDP growth, up from 0.6% in Q1. Headline inflation increased to 1.1% in August, and interest rates reduced to 1.75% in late September. Manufacturing PMI improved slightly to 55.6 points in September, from 55.3 points in August.

What are you expecting of the Swedish auto market in the months ahead, and the trajectory of the EV transition? Which new and upcoming BEV models do you expect to prove popular in this market? Please share your thoughts and perspectives in the discussion below.