Hungary January 2019: Suzuki, Dacia, Kia pull market up 9.2%

The Suzuki SX4 S-Cross is up 75.7% to #2 in January.

After soaring 17.5% over the Full Year 2018, the Hungarian new car market starts 2019 on a slightly more muted yet still very dynamic +9.2% in January to 9.714 registrations. Brand leader and local producer Suzuki (+24%) vastly outpaces the market to cement its leadership at 16.3% share, its highest since last May and to be compared with 14.1% over the FY2018. Dacia (+36.6%) and Kia (+28.1%) also impress in the remainder of the Top 10 that welcomes Hyundai and Fiat at its tail end, brands that ranked #12 and #13 respectively over FY2018. But strikingly, outside Suzuki the rest of the Top 6 all underperform, with Toyota (-35.7%) hit the hardest, Opel (-6.7%), Skoda (-3.7%) and Ford (-0.7%) in negative and Volkswagen (+0.9%) just edging into positive territory. Model-wise, the Suzuki Vitara (+13.2%) and SX4 S-Cross (+75.8%) hold the Top 2 spots, and if they maintain this feat until the FY2019, which is likely given the S-Cross held the #2 rank during 4 of the past 5 months, it will be the first Suzuki 1-2 in Hungary since 2008. Below the Skoda Octavia (-7.1%), the Fiat 500 leaps up to #4 vs. #11 in FY2018, the Dacia Duster surges 50.9% but only ranks 8th while the VW Polo at #9 (vs. #26 in FY2018) and Kia Cee’d at #10 (vs. #20) clearly stand out.

Previous post: Hungary Full Year 2018: Suzuki places two models on podium for first time in 10 years

One year ago: Hungary January 2018: Suzuki SX4 S-Cross, Toyota C-HR shine, market up 38.5%

Full January 2019 Top 10 brands and models below.