Slovenia May 2020: Kia (+96.8%), Nissan (+9.5%) ignore market down -31.7%

Heavy discounts lift Kia sales up 96.8% in a market down -31.7%.

From -71.4% in April, the Slovenian new car market recovers to -31.7% and 5.086 registrations on May which is the smallest year-on-year decline of all 23 European markets we have covered so far. The year-to-date tally is now down -37.2% to 21.440. Volkswagen (-31.5%) matches the market evolution to reclaim the brands pole position at 17.5% share above Renault (-35.1%) at 13.1%. Skoda (-41.3%) remains in third place while Kia (+96.8%) gets a spectacular boost from heavy discounts as outlined by our country correspondent Blaž last month, shooting up to #4 and 7.2% share vs. #7 and 4.6% so far this year. Nissan (+9.5%) also manages a year-on-year gain at #7 and 5.4% share, exactly double the 2.7% it commands YTD (#12). Further down, Volvo (+80%), Mitsubishi (+68.4%), Land Rover (+68%), Alfa Romeo (+35.7%), Tesla (+600%) and Lexus (+133.3%) all post spectacular upticks.

Model-wise, the Renault Clio (-32.1%) remains the most popular vehicle in the country but this month the Nissan Qashqai (+113.7%) more than doubles its volume year-on-year and shoots up 14 spots on April to land at #2 overall, its highest ranking here since last October. The Dacia Duster (+631%) does even better, up 7-fold year-on-year 41 ranks on last month to #3 while the Peugeot 2008 (+68.1%) is also very impressive at #4. The Kia Stonic (+375.9%) justifies the brand’s performance by breaking into the Slovenian Top 10 for the first time at #8. The Skoda Kamiq (#23) tops recent launches above the Mazda CX-30 (#51) and Kia Xceed (#55).

Previous month: Slovenia April 2020: Renault (-28.9%) shoots up to 32.3% share in market down -71.4%

One year ago: Slovenia May 2019: Dacia (+63.2%), Skoda (+10.7%) defy market down -1.5%

Full May 2020 Top 38 All-brands and Top 215 All-models below.