Only a few years after the wars in the area of former Yugoslavia, car sales in the newly created states have already passed the pre-war levels. In five now independent countries – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia – companies sold 88,566 units in six months this year, compared to 81,000 units sold in 1990.
The biggest market in the region is Slovenia, where 37,144 units have been sold. Slovenia’s market leader is Renault with 19,2% market share, followed by Volkswagen (11,6%) and Fiat (10,2%). Although the country has a population of just two million, Slovenia is the most developed market in Eastern Europe, selling 42.3 new cars per 1,000 inhabitants in 1999. This outpaced Western Europe with sales of 40.5 units per 1,000 inhabitants.
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In Croatia, the 28,593 units sold in the first six months of this year is a less positive result compared to last year, but is still very strong. As in Slovenia, the market leader is Renault, but with a smaller share of 12,3%. Renault in Croatia is followed by Volkswagen (11,3%) and Opel (10,6%).
Sales of 11,627 units ranked FR Yugoslavia third in the region, with a market completely dominated by the domestic car maker Zastava. Zastava has 59,4% of the market, followed by Skoda (7,5%) and Opel (7,0%).
In Macedonia car sales reached 8,025 units. Fiat ranked first (14,3%), followed by Daewoo (12,6%) and Lada (12,5%).
The smallest market is Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sales of 3,177 units ranked BH in last place. But Kemal Covic, manager and market’s analyst of ASA Auto, representative of VW group in BH, thinks that Bosnian market will strongly recover over the next few years.
“Vehicle sales could reach 12,000 units in 2003”, he said.
Market leader in Bosnia is the Volkswagen group with a total share of 62% (Skoda 37,3%, Volkswagen 21,7% and Audi 2,4%).
It is also interesting to note that people in Bosnia and Herzegovina have a special liking to Audis. It is the only country in Eastern Europe where Audi has ranked sixth, ahead of Opel, KIA, Peugeot and Citroen.
Map of The Balkans Region
Eldar Dizdarevic
Sarajevo
fax: ++387 33 468 090
e mail: eldard54@yahoo.com
