Switzerland January 2017: VW under pressure from Mercedes

Mercedes is only 98 sales below Volkswagen in January.

* See the Top 50 All-brands and Top 335 All-models by clicking on the title *

Switzerland is one of the rare European markets to lose ground in January at -4% to 19.451 units. Volkswagen crumbles down 18% to a round 10% share vs. 13.3% over the Full Year 2016 and ends January only 98 sales above Mercedes at 9.5% (-5%), paying the price of an artificially inflated December score when it held 17.3% of the market. BMW (-11%) and Skoda (-8%) complete a fully declining Top 4 but just below, Audi (+30%), Seat (+60%) and Fiat (+36%) try and make up for it. Renault (-26%) suffers the largest decline in the Top 10 while Hyundai (-32%), Citroen (-36%) and Mazda (-36%) are the biggest losers in the Top 20. On a positive note, Porsche (+19%), Land Rover (+22%), Subaru (+33%), Maserati (+111%), Jaguar (+137%) and Alfa Romeo (+178%) all post stellar results.

The T6 is Volkswagen’s best-seller in Switzerland this month, outselling the Golf. 

Model-wise, the Skoda Octavia reclaims the top spot it held year-to-date for 11 months, selling almost double any other nameplate in the country at 790 units and 4.1% share. The VW T6 is the surprise of the month, surging 29 spots on December and 32% year-on-year to land in 2nd place, becoming Volkswagen’s best-seller above the Golf, imploding down 47% to #4 and confirming our reading that forwarded December registrations – typically dealership self-registrations – were behind the nameplate’s sudden, last minute rally to hold onto the annual pole position for the 23rd time. Meanwhile the Mercedes C-Class drops 1% on its January 2016 score but gains 14 spots on last month to #3, the Seat Alhambra is up 99% to #5, the Mercedes GLC up 39% to #6, the VW Tiguan up 186% to #7 and the Dacia Sandero up 37% to #8. Other impressive gainers include the Audi Q5 (+231%), Renault Megane (+170%) and Peugeot 3008 (+354%) while the Toyota C-HR is up 39 ranks on December to soar to #23.

Previous post: Switzerland Full Year 2016: VW Golf snatches last minute 23rd win

One year ago: Switzerland January-February 2016: Skoda Octavia #1, VW T6 shines

Full January 2017 Top 50 All-brands and Top 335 All-models below.