Austria October 2019: VW Polo snaps surprise and rare lead, sales up 11.7%
The VW Polo is the best-selling vehicle in Austria in October.
New car sales in Austria leap up 11.7% year-on-year on weak post-WLTP year-ago volumes to 25.138 units, yet the year-to-date tally remains in frank negative at -4.7% to 283.436. Volkswagen (+13.9%) just outpaces the market to easily hold onto the brands top spot at 15.4% share, that’s more than double the #2 BMW (+20%) at 7.5%. Skoda (-15.9%) is knocked down to #3 ahead of Hyundai (-3.2%) and Ford (-10.9%) both in difficulty. Seat (+59.9%), Mazda (+59.2%) and Renault (+21.5%) also shine in the Top 10, while further down Porsche (+945.5%) and Audi (+142.7%) simply return to a more natural level after being annihilated post-WLTP last year while Mitsubishi (+94.3%), Land Rover (+39.5%), Toyota (+27%), Citroen (+25.9%) and Kia (+20.8%) stand out.
In the models ranking, the VW Polo (+34%) rallies back up a spectacular 18 spots on last month to snap the overall pole position for the 2nd time in the past 4 months and only the 4th time in the past 10 years after October 2009, December 2018 and July 2019. This is a very interesting incidence just as the VW T-Cross – which has cannibalised Polo sales across Europe since launch – is locked outside the Top 10 at #12 after ranking inside the Austrian Top 5 both in July (#5) and August (#4). The Polo however is stuck at #4 year-to-date vs. #2 over the Full Year 2018. The VW Golf (-39.2%) remains at #2, a ranking it also holds YTD while the Skoda Octavia (-18.8%) is toppled to #3 but easily remains #1 so far in 2019 with a 1.000+ sales advantage over the Golf. The VW Tiguan (+26%) is up 8 ranks on last month to #4, the Opel Astra (+147%) is up 4 to #5 and the VW T-Roc (-37.7%) up 11 to #6. Notice the Renault Megane (+275%), VW Caddy (+201.2%), BMW 3 Series (+133.1%) and Seat Ateca (+48.1%) also strong in the Top 15.
Previous month: Austria September 2019: Renault Clio, Ford Focus and Tesla Model 3 shine in market up 22.4%
One year ago: Austria October 2018: VW T-Roc scores first podium, Cupra brands lands
Full October 2019 Top 42 All-brands and Top 275 All-models below.