Austria Full Year 2019: Skoda Octavia ends 42 years of VW Golf domination, Seat scores first ever podium

The 4th generation should enable the Skoda Octavia to cement its win in 2020.

Discover close to 45 years of Austria Historical Data here.

It’s a second consecutive year of decline for the Australian new car market with 2019 sales down -3.4% to 329.389 units. Brand leader Volkswagen (-7.5%) falls twice faster than the market but remains ultra-dominant at 16% share, like last year distancing Skoda (+7.3%) at a much improved 8.3%. The VW Group monopolises the brands podium with Seat (+5.7%) up two spots on 2018 to score its first ever podium finish in Austria. Ford (-2.8%) is relegated to 4th place above BMW (+3.2%) and Renault (-4.5%) both overtaking Opel (-10.8%) and Hyundai (-9.4%). Below, Tesla (+527.1%) leaps up 7 spots to #24, with Lamborghini (+44.2%), Mini (+22.9%), Ferrari (+20.5%), Alpine (+10.9%) and Ssangyong (+10.2%) also posting excellent scores and Chinese carmaker JAC landing at #41 with 31 sales.

There’s a massive earthquake in the Austrian models ranking in 2019: for the first known time in the past 42 years, the VW Golf (-26.6%) is unsettled from its throne, giving way to the Skoda Octavia (+21.2%) which had built up a solid 1.500-unit advantage by year-end. Interestingly, the Octavia improves from 2.6% to 3.2% share but this is the lowest market share by a #1 in Austrian history. The Octavia’s win is as clearcut as it is unexpected, as it ranked #1 five times this year (April, May, June, September and November), whereas it had only managed one single win prior to this (February 2009). For the 2nd year in a row and ever, the VW Group incredibly monopolises the Austrian Top 7 – something it has not yet achieved at home in Germany – with the Polo (-17.4%), T-Roc (+7.5%), Skoda Fabia (-8%), VW Bus (-3.7%) and Tiguan (-34.5%) in tow. The Renault Clio (-8.5%) is now the most popular non VW Group nameplate ahead of the Ford Focus (+17.8%), with the Seat Ibiza (+15.4%) rounding out the Top 10 and the VW T-Cross (#22) best-selling 2019 launch above the Tesla Model 3 (#51).

Previous month: Austria November 2019: Skoda Octavia on the cusp of historical win, Mazda CX-30 up to world-best #13

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

Two years ago: Austria 2017: VW Golf unbeatable, Toyota up 43%

Full Year 2019 Top 55 All-brands and Top 380 All-models vs. Full Year 2018 figures below.

Full December 2019 Top 40 All-brands and Top 265 All-models below.