Czech Republic August 2016: Dacia, Kia, Mercedes lift market up 16%

Dacia (+84%) ranks #4 for only the second time in Czech history. 

* See the Top 10 best-selling brands and Top 250 All-models by clicking on the title *

And we’re back in the game: after declining July sales due to less opening days and Skoda shutting down its main factory for summer, the Czech new car market return to record-breaking shape in August: up 16% to 21.251 deliveries – the highest August score ever registered and the first time above 20.000 units for the month. This brings us to an all-time high year-to-date tally of 172.768 units, up 13% on the same period in 2015 which itself was already a record. To take stock of the fantastic health of the Czech market – partly due to re-exports it has to be said – let’s compare the 8 months of 2016 to the Full Year scores of 2013 (164.736), 2012 (174.009) or 2011 (173.282)…

Kia sales are up 87%… 

Homegrown market leader Skoda grows slower than the market at +13% and as a result posts its weakest market share so far in 2016 at 26.9%. It is still way above #2 Volkswagen at 10.4%, ahead of Hyundai at 8.2%. French-Romanian low-cost brand Dacia surges up 84% to pass Ford and rank #4 brand in the Czech Republic for only the second time in history after last April. Seat (+30%), Kia (+87%) and Mercedes (+135%) also post very sizeable sales gains this month, whereas Opel (-21%) and Ford (-28%) fall flat. Note that when removing re-exports, Volkswagen falls down to just 1.085 sales at #3 well below Hyundai (1.679) and only a smidgen above Dacia (1.056).

…while Mercedes deliveries shoot up 135% year-on-year. 

Model-wise, both the Skoda Octavia (9.1%) and Fabia (7.6%) continue to dominate but fall short of their year-to-date levels of 11% and 8.4% respectively. Reversely the Skoda Rapid (4.7%) is above (4.4%) but the Hyundai i30 ranks 4th, passing the Skoda Superb (3.1% vs. 4.3% year-to-date) whose new generation’s honeymoon period with Czech customers now seems to have ended. Illustrating the brand’s performance this month, the Dacia Duster jumps up to #7 overall. Notice also the VW Polo at #8 and the Kia Sportage at #13. The Fiat Talento (#145) and Seat Ateca (#160) land inside the Top 200  for their first month in market.

Previous month: Czech Republic July 2016: First year-on-year decline in almost 3 years

One year ago: Czech Republic August 2015: Skoda Fabia confirms pole position

Full August 2016 Top 10 brands and Top 250 All-models below.