Skoda heads falling Swiss market
As reported by market analyst Dataforce (Christian Spahn), new passenger car registrations in Switzerland for February 2019 were lower than in the same month last year. Across all market segments, slightly more than 22,000 passenger cars were registered and as a result the overall market fell by 1.1%.
Out of these figures, a little under 4,500 passenger cars were registered to companies, with the result that after a weak start to 2019, true fleets had another drop, this time by 13.5% when compared to February 2018. Short-Term Rental registrations also fell by 6.9% and only tactical registrations by Dealership/ Manufacturers were positive, increasing by 27.7%, thereby representing the main growth driver within commercial registrations (as in January).
Where brands and models are concerned, with 610 registrations and an increase of 7.0% compared to the same month last year, Skoda not only ranked 1st in the true fleet Market in February, but has also taken the crown from a year-to-date perspective. Although the Skoda Octavia was again the most registered fleet model, it was unable to maintain the previous year's level (- 12.4%). However, the Karoq (+ 115.1%), Kodiaq (+ 97.6%) and Superb (+ 19.3%) all helped to compensate for this decline. Volkswagen recorded a growth of 15.5% in February, but this was not enough to defend its leading position from January. Despite a significant decline of 19.8%, BMW remains the third-strongest brand within the true fleet market.
Electric cars are on the rise in the private market, recording exceptional growth and almost quadrupling the registrations of February 2018. This came mostly thanks to the first of the Tesla Model 3s with 195 registrations, followed by the Hyundai Kona and the BMW i3. However, the true fleet EV market was not able reach its comparative figures with registrations decreasing by 22.0%.
(Image: Skoda)
