Hungary August 2019: Suzuki up 408.7% to record 28.4% share

The Suzuki Vitara breaks its Hungarian share record for the 2nd month in a row.

New car sales in Hungary soar by a splendid 20.8% year-on-year in August to 15.618 units, lifting the year-to-date volume up 10.1% to 105.451. Local producer Suzuki (+408.7%) posts another out-of-this-world performance, multiplying its year-ago sales by 5 to reach a mammoth 28.4% share after hitting 19.3% in June and 25.8% in July. This could well be the highest ever market share reached by Suzuki in Hungary: historical data for this market is only annual until 2010, and the brand surpassed 20% share annually in 1997 (20.1%), 1998 (23.9%), 1999 (24.6%) and 2000 (21.1%). It is entirely possible that Suzuki posted a higher share during a couple of months over that period, but it is also possible that it didn’t. In any case, Suzuki’s performance this month is a once-in-a-decade (or two) occurrence, which we have seen happen all across the continent for the brand in August, due to stricter emission rules taking effect in September in Europe.

Kia (+44.6%), Toyota (+16%), Skoda (+14.2%), Dacia (+13.6%) and Ford (+10.6%) also post double-digit gains in the Top 10 whereas Renault (-42.9%) and Volkswagen (-39.8%) pay the price for abusing the pre-WLTP game a year ago and Fiat earns a YTD Top 10 spot at #10. Model-wise, the Suzuki Vitara (+577.4%) smashes its market share record for the 2nd straight month, lifting it from 12.2% to 14.7% and the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross (+1380.4%) does exactly the same at 9.7% from 9.3%. The Skoda Octavia (+32%) manages to outpace the market in third place, the Toyota Corolla is up 5 spots on July to #4 and the Opel Astra (+38.4%) rounds up the Top 5.

Previous month: Hungary July 2019: Suzuki shoots up to 25.8% share, highest in 20 years

One year ago: Hungary August 2018: Pre-WLTP leftovers push VW Jetta to pole position

Full August 2019 Top 10 brands and models below.