Austria January 2021: Seat hits record 11% share, VW Group monopolises Top 11 in market freefalling -38.4%

The Seat Leon outsells the VW Golf in Austria this month. Picture autofilou.at

It’s a disastrous start of the year for Austrian new car registrations at -38.4% year-on-year to 14.133 units as renewed lockdowns hamper sales. The Top 5 brands all outpace the market, starting with Volkswagen (-27.7%) up to a towering 19.9% share. Seat (-22.8%) is up 6 spots on December to #2 with 11% share which is believed to be an all-time record for the brand in Austria and the first time it crosses the symbolic 10% share milestone. Skoda (-35.6%), BMW (-27.3%) and Audi (-6.6%) follow, the latter up 6 spots on last month to #5. In contrast, Opel (-61.7%), Renault (-43.4%) and Mercedes (-40.7%) endure steep falls. Further down the charts, only Tesla (+60%) and Jaguar (+17.3%) manage year-on-year gains.

Over in the models ranking, the VW Polo (-38.5%) snaps the top spot for the first time since last August and despite a ghastly year-on-year drop, it is followed by the VW T-Roc (-26.3%), Skoda Octavia (-25.9%) and VW T-Cross (+26.3%). Seat justifies its record share by placing four nameplates in the Top 9 vs. 3 Volkswagens: the Ateca (+7.8%) at #5, the Ibiza (-29.5%) at #6, the Leon (+6.2%) at #8 and the Arona (-32.2%) at #9. The VW Golf (-56.3%) implodes to a paltry 10th place and the VW Group monopolises the entire Top 11 models this month with the Skoda Fabia (-29.3%) at #7 and the VW Tiguan (-20.4%) at #11. Notice also the Renault Megane up to #12, the VW ID.3 at #18 and the Renault Zoe at #19.

Previous post: Austria Full Year 2020: Skoda Octavia repeats at #1, VW places 6 models in Top 9, sales down -24.5%

One year ago: Austria January 2020: BMW (+20%), Mercedes (+17.6%) defy market down -9.1%

Full January 2021 Top 42 All-brands and Top 20 models below.