Czech Republic January 2015: New figures unveil re-export culprits

All (100%) Ford Fiesta sold in the Czech Republic in January were re-exported!

* See the Top 100 best-selling models and Top 10 brands by clicking on the title *

New all-time record for January new car sales in the Czech Republic, smashing the previous best established last year by 15% to 15,727 units. However and for the first time on BSCB, thanks to Madea Research we can observe in detail the re-export phenomenon rife in the country. Lower prices than in the rest of the European Union means a significant part of new car sales in Eastern Europe never sees the roads of the country they were registered in and are re-exported as new to other markets. This is particularly true in Bulgaria and Latvia, but valid across the region as a whole. It is a taboo subject in the car sales world that has never been officially quantified until now. The Top 100 models and Top 10 brands detailed below the jump are ranked by their official sales, but now also include a 2nd column that deducts re-exports, defined as cars de-registered within 90 days of purchase.

53% of Seat Leon sold in January were re-exported outside of the Czech Republic.

What started as 14,151 units sold for the Top 100 models in January, ends up at just 12,211 once re-exports are deducted, giving us a 14% re-export ratio, significant enough to potentially explain the record sales reached in the Czech Republic in 2014… The ranking by brand is eloquent: while Skoda (5% re-export ratio), Hyundai (2%), Kia (4%), BMW (5%) and Dacia (7%) are all clean, Volkswagen (26%), Seat (53%) and Ford (61% of cars re-exported) are the worst offenders in the Top 10. The VAG Group has re-exported at least 850 new cars from the Czech Republic in January alone…

All Fiat Panda sold in the Czech Republic were re-exported.

In the models ranking, the 4 best-sellers remain the Skoda Octavia, Rapid, Fabia and Hyundai i30 in this order once re-exports are deducted. The VW Golf stays 5th but owes 27% of its sales to re-exports. Seat does worse: 53% of Leon and 59% of Ibiza are re-exported, Fiat worse again with 34% of 500, 54% of 500L, 66% of Freemont and 100% of Panda re-exported but Ford is the most spectacular re-exporter: not a single one of the Fiesta registered in January made it to Czech roads and only 43% of Focus, 52% of B-Max and 61% of Mondeo.

Dacia Dokker

Quite separately from this, great performers in January include the Dacia Duster up to #9, Dacia Dokker up to #26, Hyundai i40 up to #30, Volvo XC60 up to #40, the BMW X6 shooting up to #52 vs. #136 during the Full Year 2014, its little brother the BMW X4 up to #75, the Citroen C4 Cactus up to #79 and the Kia Sorento up to #95.

Previous post: Czech Republic Full Year 2014: Skoda Rapid #2 in record market

One year ago: Czech Republic January 2014: Dacia Logan/Sandero shine

Full January 2015 Top 100 models Ranking Table below.