Results from Business car barometer 2023

3,102 drivers responded to LeasePlan’s annual Business car barometer. The survey shows that Volvo continues to be the most common business car in Sweden. 31 (27) percent drives a Volvo, which is an increase with four percentage points since last year and brings Volvo back to the 2021 year’s level again. Runner up is Volkswagen with 17 (21) percent, followed by BMW 14 (10) percent.

Tesla loses top ranking in overall experience Lexus, newcomer to the list this year, has together with BMW the highest ranking when drivers rate the overall experience of their business car. Both land on 4.2 on a five-point scale. Since Tesla entered the list four years ago, they have been in lead but this year they lose one position and ends up in a shared second place with a rating of 4.1 together with Audi and Polestar. The latter one came into the list last year and landed a fourth position then. Last year's jumbo ranked Peugeot has recovered from a 2.5 rating last year to a more convincing 3.5 this year. This year, Ford is at the bottom of the list with its 2.8 rating.

– This year’s survey confirms that business car drivers are generally still satisfied with their car. This year too, there are eight car makes that receive an average rating of four or higher. Above all, it is the comfort that is praised by most drivers, explains Frank Alofs, CEO for LeasePlan Sverige.

Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids are rapidly increasing at the expense of diesel A completely new picture of the most common fuel among business car drivers is beginning to emerge. In this edition of the Business car barometer, the combination of petrol and electricity is by far the most common option for company cars, 51 (39) percent. At the same time, the percentage of fully electric cars is growing from 11 to 20 percent.

These fuel variants have increased at the expense of diesel, whose share this year dip down to 20 (40) percent. Worth mentioning in this context is that the proportion of diesel-powered business cars in 2020 was 70 percent and five years earlier, in 2015, 90 percent of business cars were diesel-powered.

According to the government, the phasing out of petrol and diesel is central to achieving the climate goals.

– It is very positive that more people are choosing electric cars, even though the climate bonus incentive was removed overnight at the end of 2022. In order to reach Sweden's climate goal of net zero emissions in 2045, everyone needs to make wise choices – even when it comes to the business car, states Frank Alofs. At LeasePlan we have set an even tougher demand on ourselves through our goal of a fossil-free vehicle fleet already in 2030, and we are well on our way there.

What kind of company car do you have today? (2023 compared to 2022)

• 1.
  1.
  Volvo 31% (27%)
• 2.
  2.
  Volkswagen 17% (21%)
• 3.
  3.
  BMW 14% (10%)
• 4.
  4.
  Mercedes 10% (10%)
• 5.
  5.
  Kia 4% (3%)

What is your overall assessment of the car you drive today? (2023 compared to 2022)

• 1.
  1.
  Lexus 4,2 (-)
• 2.
  2.
  BMW 4,2 (4,2)
• 3.
  3.
  Tesla 4,1 (4,4)
• 4.
  4.
  Polestar 4,1 (4,1)
• 5.
  5.
  Audi 4,1 (3,9)

What fuel or combination of fuels is your car intended for? (2023 compared to 2022)

• 1.
  1.
  Petrol + electricity 51% (39%)
• 2.
  2.
  Electricity 20% (11%)
• 3.
  3.
  Diesel 20% (40%)
• 4.
  4.
  Diesel + electricity, 5% (5%)
• 5.
  5.
  Petrol 3% (4%)

About the survey The survey was conducted by the market research company Detector on behalf of LeasePlan. A total of 3,102 company car drivers in Sweden responded to the survey.