Switzerland July 2016: Dacia superstar

The Dacia Sandero is up 343% to #5 in Switzerland in July… 

* See the Top 40 All-brands and Top 330 All-models by clicking on the title *

The Swiss new car market hits the brakes in July with sales down a sizeable 14% year-on-year to 26.074 units, leading to a year-to-date tally now down 4% to 184.111. Market leader Volkswagen falls faster than the market at -17% to 3.573 sales and 13.7% share whereas #2 BMW falls slightly slower at -12% to 1.990 and 7.6%. In fact, the entire Top 5 brands post volumes significantly down on a year ago, with Mercedes (-23%), Audi (-26%) and Skoda (-18%) following. The star of the month is low-cost brand Dacia, up a staggering 255% year-on-year and 12 spots on June to shoot up to #6 with 1.190 sales and 4.6% share, outselling parent brand Renault (4.5%) as well as Peugeot (3.2%) and Citroen (3.1%). Further down, Mini (+30%), Mitsubishi (+30%), Kia (+31%), Honda (+86%) and Infiniti (+790%) shine.

…while the Duster is up 179% to #6.

In the models ranking, the VW Golf reclaims the year-to-date pole position thanks to 1.078 sales this month (-37%!) vs. 921 for the Skoda Octavia (-22%) with the VW Polo also in freefall (-40%) at #3. The VW Tiguan is up 53% to #4 but the two heroes of the month are the Dacia Sandero at #5 (+343%) and the Duster at #6 (+179%). Notice also the Mini Cooper up 40%, the Audi A4 up 44%, VW Touran up 31%, Seat Alhambra up 33%, BMW X1 up 371%, VW T6 up 389% and Opel Astra up 90%.

Previous month: Switzerland June 2016: Skoda Octavia tops half-year charts

One year ago: Switzerland July 2015: BMW 2 Series and Mercedes GLA in Top 10

Full July 2016 Top 40 All-brands and Top 330 All-models below.