Finland August 2013: Toyota Auris and Skoda Octavia dominate

Toyota Auris Touring Sports

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The Finnish new car market has a smile on its face this month: up 3% year-on-year to 7,643 registrations, however the year-to-date is still 10% below 2012 at 71,846 units. Big event atop the models ranking this month: for the first time since November 2010, the Toyota Auris is the most popular model in Finland thanks to 404 sales and 5.3%. I had the privilege to speak with Heikki Freund, Marketing Manager at Toyota Finland, who confirmed the success of the Auris has been strengthened further by the arrival of the Touring Sports station wagon variant (unavailable for the previous generation) which accounted for 75% of all Auris sold in Finland in August! Interestingly, 40% of Auris Touring Sports sold this month in Finland are hybrid. As a result, the Auris is now #5 year-to-date vs. #12 in 2012.

The Mercedes E-Class manages to rank inside the Finnish Top 10 this month.

Leader the last 2 months, the Skoda Octavia continues to perform really well at #2 with 392 units and 5.1% share but remains #3 year-to-date below the VW Golf, #4 this month, and the Nissan Qashqai, #3. Excellent performances of the Kia Rio up 7 spots on July to #6, the Kia Cee’d up 2 to #7, Mercedes E-Class up 5 to land inside the Finnish Top 10 this month at #10 (vs. #20 year-to-date), and the Audi A3 up 7 to #11 vs. #19 so far in 2013. Finally, notice the Opel Mokka knocking at the Top 20’s door at #21 with 91 sales and 1.2% share and now inside the year-to-date Top 30 at #29.

Previous month: Finland July 2013: Skoda Octavia confirms pole position

One year ago: Finland August 2012: Nissan Qashqai #1 for the third time ever

Full August 2013 Top 30 models and brands Ranking Tables below.