Greece October 2015: Volkswagen crashes down 60%

Volkswagen sales are down 60% year-on-year in Greece in October. Picture caradvice.com.au

* See the Top 33 All-brands and Top 75 models by clicking on the title *

It’s a very unstable year for the Greek new car market: back to harsh decline in October at -16% to just 4.946 registrations, yet the year-to-date total remains in positive at +5.5% to 63.130 units. Despite sales down 20% year-on-year, Toyota reclaims the brands pole position it holds year-to-date at 10.7% share above Opel (-18%) and Mercedes once again posting a fantastic result with volumes up 94% on October 2014 to 7.3% share. Nissan (-4%) and Fiat (-11%) round up the Top 5 but the big news in Greece this month is the freefalling of Volkswagen, down 60% to just 325 sales and 6.6% share.

A combination of a high comparison volume in October 2014, the after-effects of overselling in the past couple of months and, it’s impossible to ignore it, the emissions cheating scandal it is currently embroiled in. Whether it wouldn’t be reasonable to attribute the entire decline to dieselgate, this 60% drop is the largest Volkswagen has experienced post-scandal anywhere in the world. Model-wise, the Toyota Yaris (-30%) and Opel Corsa (-31%) are back in command despite significant year-on-year drops, the Nissan Qashqai is up 18% to #3, the VW Golf falls 44% in 5th place, the Mercedes GLA is up 7-fold to #10 and the Ford Focus up 5-fold to #11.

Previous month: Greece September 2015: Mercedes best-selling carmaker

One year ago: Greece October 2014: Toyota Yaris reclaims monthly leadership

Full October 2015 Top 33 All-brands and Top 75 models below.