VW Golf Overtakes Volvo as Sweden’s Best-Selling Car in 2016

For the first year in more than half a century, Volvo was not Sweden’s best-selling car in 2016.

Surprisingly the Volkswagen Golf topped sales, according to Sweden’s automakers’ association, although Volvo still had the largest share of the country’s car market overall.

VW Golf made up 5.9% of new cars bought in Sweden, while Volvo’s V70, S90 and V90 took 5.7% together.

Volvo was last knocked off top spot in 1962 by a Volkswagen Beetle.

Despite Volvo’s car business now being owned by a Chinese firm, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, it is still viewed as an iconic Swedish brand.

Volvo still sells the most cars in Sweden, with more than one in five cars (21.5%) on the country’s roads, compared with VW’s 15.7%.

However, Volvo’s V70, the most popular car in Sweden for the past two decades, has ceased production in favor of the newer V90 model.

Sweden is Volvo’s second-biggest market after China.

The Swedish automakers’ association said 2016 saw record car sales with 372,000 new registrations, up by 8% on the 2015 figure, helped by a strong economy, while truck sales were up by more than 15%.