Austria January 2019: VW Group places record 14 models in Top 15, market down 11.6%

The Seat Ateca hits a record #8 and Volkswagen places 5 models in the Top 9.

The Austrian new car market skids down 11.6% year-on-year in January to 25.257 units. Volkswagen (-15.6%) falls faster but holds onto a higher share at 17.4% vs. 15.8% in December and 16.7% over FY2018. Skoda (+9.4%) climbs up two spots on last month to return to the #2 ranking it held over FY2018 while Seat (+15.9%) shoots up 14 ranks to #3 and 9.1% share vs. 5.5% in FY18, making the brands podium 100% VW Group. BMW (+8.5%) and Ford (+1.4%) also manage to progress inside the Top 10 but Audi (-32.2%), Mercedes (-20.7%) and Renault (-19.4%) fare the worst. Outside the Top 10, Ssangyong (+42.9%), Tesla (+23.5%), Smart (+16.9%), Dacia (+12%), Lada (+11.1%) and Mini (+9.6%) stand out with gains.

The VW Group monopolises the Austrian Top 9 this month for the second time in history after April 2018. The VW Golf (-22%), Polo (-12.6%) and Skoda Octavia (+10.3%) top the charts ahead of the Skoda Fabia (-1.4%), VW T-Roc (-13.3%), Bus (+111.5%), Seat Ibiza (+22.7%), Ateca (+47.3%) at a record #8 also hit in August 2017 and the VW Tiguan (-34%) is a uncharacteristically weak position. The Opel Corsa (+31.8%) is up 59 spots on December to become the best-selling non VAG model at #10 overall, but the Seat Alhambra (-4.4%), Leon (-6.3%), Skoda Karoq (+46.4%), Seat Arona (+40.7%) and VW Touran (+40.4%) make it an astounding 14 VW Group models in the Top 15, a new all-time record beating the previous one of 10  in the Top 11 established in in August 2012. The Citroen C4 Spacetourer (#82) is the best-selling recent launch (<12 months) ahead of the Peugeot Rifter (#111), Citroen C5 Aircross (#113) and Audi Q8 (#123).

Previous post: Austria Full Year 2018: VW Group monopolises Top 7 for the first time in history, VW T-Roc at world-best #5

One year ago: Austria January 2018: VW T-Roc up to world-record #6

Full January 2019 Top 42 All-brands and Top 275 All-models below.