Switzerland August 2020: Mercedes #1, places 3 models in Top 6, 8th straight double-digit market drop (-16.3%)

The Mercedes GLA is up 69.9% to 5th place in Switzerland.

Switzerland endures an 8th consecutive month of double-digit year-on-year declines in August at -16.3% to 16.260 units, leading to a year-to-date tally down -29.7% to 142.102. In August 4×4 sales drop -18.2% to 7.706 and 47.4% share vs. 48.5% a year ago, HEV is up 29% to 2.131 and 13.1% share vs. 8.5%, BEV is up 162.3% to 1.608 and 9.9% share vs. 3.2% in August 2019 and PHEV is up 294.1% to 938 and 5.8% share vs. 1.2%. Mercedes (-12%) snaps the brands pole position for the 4th time in the past 13 months, BMW (-8.8%) is up two spots on July to #2 and Skoda (-15.7%) remains at #3. This means traditional leader Volkswagen (-43.5%) falls apart to a paltry 4th place, enduring the steepest drop in the Top 18. Peugeot (+27.9%), Renault (+15.7%) and Audi (+6.2%) are the only Top 10 carmakers in positive just as Seat (-40.9%), Toyota (-30.6%) and Ford (-21.3%) lose share. Below, Tesla (+205.2%) is up 23 spots on July to #11, with Ferrari (+58.1%), DS (+40%), Volvo (+15.1%), Mitsubishi (+8.3%) and Citroen (+4%) also impressive.

In the models ranking, now that Fremont shipments are back to Europe, the Tesla Model 3 (+400.9%) rallies back up to snap its 4th ever win, toppling the Skoda Octavia (-20.4%) which however easily remains the best-selling nameplate year-to-date. The Audi Q3 (+176.3%) advances a further two spots on July to #3, while the Mercedes GLC (-7%) is up 22 to #4 and the Mercedes GLA (+69.9%) up 34 to #5. In fact Mercedes places 3 nameplates in the August Top 6 with the A-Class (-18.5%) up 5 to #6 despite a sizeable year-on-year drop. The remainder of the Top 10 is entirely in positive: the Peugeot 208 (+131.8%) is the most impressive, while the Hyundai Kona (+24%), Mini Hatch (+10.2%) and BMW X1 (+2.3%) also shine. At the other end of the scale, the VW Golf (-53.8%) dives to a record-low 39th place. The Ford Puma lurches up 26 spots to a record #20 to top recent launches above the Mazda CX-30 (#42), Skoda Kamiq (#64) and Mercedes GLB (#84). This month we welcome the Mazda MX-30 (#195), Aston Martin DBX (#242) and Polestar 2 (#243).

Previous month: Switzerland July 2020: Skoda (+25.6%), Renault (+44.3%), Peugeot (+32.3%) defy market down -11.3%

One year ago: Switzerland August 2019: Mercedes overtakes VW for #1 brand, Fiat 500 up to record #3

Full August 2020 Top 50 All-brands and Top 310 All-models below.