Czech Republic August 2017: Skoda Karoq lands in market down 0.3%

The Skoda Karoq has now landed in its home sales charts. 

* See the Top 45 All-brands and Top 260 All-models by clicking on the title *

For only the second time this year after last April, the Czech new car market declines in August, albeit by a minuscule 0.3% to 21.192 registrations. The year-to-date tally remains at record level, up 7.2% on the previous record of 2016 to 185.192 units. Homegrown market leader Skoda ignores the surrounding sales flatness with a 9% year-on-year gain to 29.5% share, yet still over one percentage point below its YTD level of 30.7%. Hyundai (+1%) stuns Volkswagen (-28%) to snap the 2nd spot overall with 8.3% share vs. 7.5% for VW in a particularly weak position compared to the 10% it commands year-to-date. Dacia continues to impress with a 32% year-on-year surge leading to a 7.2% market share in 4th place vs. 5.7% so far this year. BMW (+7%), Renault (+11%) and Ford (+14%) also frankly beat the market in the Top 10 whereas Kia (-28%) is in great difficulty. Further down, notice Subaru up 31%, Suzuki up 43%, Mini up 74% and Alfa Romeo up 150% but Fiat down 42% and Audi down 50%.

The Sandero (+119%) helps Dacia up 32% in 4th place in the Czech brands ranking. 

In the models ranking, the Skoda Octavia (+1%) holds onto the top spot ahead of the Skoda Fabia (-11%) and Rapid (+3%), following the YTD order. The Hyundai i30 leaps above the Skoda Superb for 4th place overall while the Skoda Kodiaq is back up three spots on July to #6, just below the best-ever #5 it hit in April. It now ranks 8th year-to-date, having passed the VW Passat. The Dacia Sandero surges 119% to remain at #8 vs. #15 (+33%) year-to-date, the Ford Focus is up 71% to #12, the Dacia Logan up 60% to #15, the Ford Kuga up 6-fold on August 2016 to #25 and the Ford B-Max surprisingly up 7-fold to #28. But the big news this month in the Czech Republic is the landing of the all-new Skoda Karoq directly in 23rd place with 1% market share. These score will no doubt improve drastically over the next few months, and it’s to wonder whether the Karoq, smaller and more affordable than the Kodiaq, could break onto its home podium in the near future…

Previous month: Czech Republic July 2017: Toyota and Dacia shine, market up just 5%

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

Full August 2017 Top 45 All-brands and Top 260 All-models below.