Fleet registrations in Switzerland fell by 8.7% in December and were down approximately by one-fifth through all of 2020 when compared to 2019, overall, Dataforce said.

However, fleet vehicles with alternative powertrains continued to be the focus of Swiss fleet managers in December, Dataforce said. In the last month of the year, 45.9% more electric vehicles were registered. The growth of plug-in hybrid models was even stronger in December (up 248.5%, year-over-year). 

For 2020 as a whole, the registrations of plug-in hybrids within the fleet market were cumulatively 197.4% higher than for the same period last year. The Volvo XC60 was the most popular model, ahead of the BMW X1 and the Volvo V60.

The top fleet brands for the Switzerland fleet market through 2020 were Volkswagen, Skoda, and BMW. Within the top 15 importers, some brands that did well despite a challenging month were Opel (up 91.7%), Fiat (up 56.8%) and Tesla (up 18.7%).

Looking at specific numbers for light commercial vehicles up to 3.5 tons in the fleet market, registration declined by 2.1% in the last month of the year. For the corporate vehicle channel, this means a cumulative minus of 11.6% for 2020. year-over-year.

Within the top 10 importer brands in the fleet market for this segment, Renault (up 74.5%), Peugeot (up 49.2%) and Citroen (up 43.1%) stood out in particular with the highest growth rates over the previous December. With a cumulative market share of 22.8% in 2020, Volkswagen was the most sought-after importer brand among Swiss fleet managers, the same as seen in the passenger car segment.