Swedes showed a renewed zeal for buying new cars in December, with new vehicle registrations shooting up 13 percent compared to the previous year, new statistics show.
According to Swedish motoring association Bil Sweden, a total of 19,340 new automobiles were registered in Sweden in December, an increase of 12.7 percent from the same month last year.
For the whole year, however, only 213,380 new cars were registered in Sweden, a drop of 16 percent compared to 2008.
Bil Sweden nevertheless forecasts sales to trend upward in 2010, projecting that 235,000 new cars will be sold during the year, the equivalent of a 10 percent increase over the 2009 total.
In addition, the association believes that light truck sales will also increase by 10 percent to 30,000 vehicles.
The two top-selling cars in Sweden in 2009 were both Volvos, with the number one V70 recording 20,532 new registrations, compared with 22,070 sold in 2008, and Volvo V50 selling 10,974 new cars, compared with 11,334 sold last year.
The number three most popular new car in Sweden in 2009 was the Volkswagen Passat, which sold 8,588 new cars in 2009, up from 6,184 vehicles sold in 2008.
Truck sales, meanwhile, fell by 7.8 percent in December, with only 3,368 new trucks being registered during the month, according to Bil Sweden.
In addition, sales of heavy trucks – those weighing more than 16 tonnes – dropped by 24 percent to 426 trucks sold.
The association’s figures also reveal how continued uncertainty about Saab’s future has dented the Swedish automaker's sales.
Only 398 Saabs were sold in Sweden in December, down from 1,161 last year.
For the whole year, only 7,036 new Saabs were registered in Sweden, a drop of 65 percent compared to 2008.
Sales of Volvo cars, on the other hand, increased slightly in December from 3,360 last year to 3,949 in 2009. For the year, however, Volvo sales were down by 13 percent to 41,808, according to Bil Sweden.
