Central and Eastern European (CEE – excluding Russia) car markets remain in turmoil, following the severe decline of new car demand last year, with Q1 2010 sales dropping a further 12.4%, in figures released by JATO Dynamics.
JATO says that the only market to really change its fortunes in the past quarter was the Czech Republic, whose 26.6% sales rise can be ‘almost entirely attributed to the standout performance of local hero, the Skoda Octavia – the most popular model both nationally and across the region’.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Continuing the trend from 2009, all but one of the major volume brands saw a downturn in sales through the period, as the turmoil created by the wider economic crisis, rising taxes and a lack of Western-style incentive schemes kept buyers from showrooms.
Less than 200,000 cars were sold across the CEE region in the first quarter, 2010 – a 12.4% drop overall (Q1 2009: 225,902).
Most markets suffered double digit sales falls, with Hungary faring worst of all (-54.8%), followed by Romania (-43.8%). Taken together, these two markets lost over 25,000 sales in the quarter, vs. 2009 – far more than those gained by the relatively positive news from Serbia.
“The picture of the CEE region as the growth centre for European new car sales is now a distant memory, as the region remains gripped by a severe downturn,” said David Di Girolamo, Head of JATO Consult.
Skoda’s Octavia remains the region’s best-selling car, with the gap to the second-placed Fabia surging to 6,766 (Q1 2009: 509). The Octavia delivered the best performance of all the top ten models during the first quarter, rising 38%, largely due to its popularity with company fleets now recovering economic confidence.
The biggest loss in the period amongst volume sellers was experienced by the Kia C’eed – fifth overall in 2009 – its drop to 10th place resulted in Kia losing its place in the top ten brands.
