Albania 2012: VW Golf and Opel Astra on top?
2013 VW Golf: the favourite of Albanian consumers?
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We stay in the Balkan area to go to Albania, which I have left alone for almost two years simply because official sales data is inexistent. With the knowledge of the best-selling models in the region (Macedonia, Bosnia and Serbia) and after visualising a few more recent street videos of capital city Tirana I will venture a new estimate of the most popular vehicles in the country for 2012.
Chances are the Opel Astra (including the previous gen still on sale) is close to the top in Albania.
Last time I did this exercise with the help of Matthias from Germany, I estimated the Range Rover topped the models ranking in Albania in 2010-2011. Although I still see it rank very high, even in such a small market as Albania it is probably not realistic to expect it to rank #1. Taking the cue from Macedonia and based on all generations of the models being visible in the streets of Tirana, I would say that the VW Golf and Opel Astra could lead the way in 2012, with other successful models being the Opel Corsa, Ford Fiesta, Audi A3, VW Caddy, Skoda Fabia and Fiat Panda.
Tirana street. Picture by MrSco, all rights reserved.
One particularity of the Albanian car landscape is the extremely high occurrence of Mercedes 200/300 and E-Class. I haven’t included them in the most popular new models as most seem to have come to the country as second-hand cars from Germany most probably. Still, it makes travelling within the bustling streets of Tirana a striking experience…
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Full article including video below.
190/200/300 are the oldest cars in Albania and the governament is trying to ban them with high taxes..Lancia lover:they don’t really like italians cars,in their dream there is always mb/bmw/audi etc..they’re balkans!
Few years ago hyundai and kia did a good job specially with small cars like Picanto..Then Chinese came strong with the bulgarian Suv Great Wall Hover but just for 1/2 years..
Nowadays a new car for albanian is just impossible..only business man can buy new car there or the diaspora..And not all of them is from greece fortunately..Lot’s of diaspora use to leave the old car in albania for the family buying the new one in their work country.
Is a small market and there are no money there..they like to buy strong car like 190 or pajero etc..There is a very thin middle class.
Good to see that Albanians like Italian cars. I saw a lot of Puntos in the clip, and a 156, 155, a few Ypsilons, a Lybra, Tempra, Stilo, just to name a few.
Everyone has a second hand mercedes… Its unbelievable! The albanians who have money to buy a new car live and work in Greece.