Switzerland February 2021: Cupra Formentor up to #6, outsells VW Golf, volumes off -15.6%

First Top 10 finish in any country for the Cupra Formentor. Picture nzz.ch

New car sales in Switzerland are down -15.6% year-on-year in February to 16.131 units, leading to a year-to-date volume down -17.5% to 31.261. 4×4 sales are off -22.7% to 7.543 and 46.8% share vs. 51.1% a year ago in February 2021 and -24.4% year-to-date to 15.049 and 48.1% vs. 52.5%. Petrol sales are down -29.7% 7.516 and 46.6% share vs. 56% for the month and -31.2% to 14.483 and 46.3% vs. 55.5% year-to-date. Diesel registrations fare even worse at -44.7% in February to 2.640 and 16.4% share vs. 25% a year ago and -43.2% year-to-date to 5.446 and 17.4% vs. 25.3% over the same period in 2019. Sales of electrified vehicles are a lot healthier: HEV+MHEV deliveries for the month are up 67.3% to 3.403 and 21.1% vs. 10.6% a year ago and up 61.5% YTD to 6.553 and 21% vs. 10.7%, PHEV is up 52.6% to 1.169 and 7.2% share vs. 4% in February and up 62.2% YTD to 2.325 and 7.4% share vs. 3.8% in 2019. Finally BEV sales are up 76% to 1.380 and 8.6% share vs. 4.1% in February 2019 and up 54.3% YTD to 2.412 and 7.7% vs. 4.1%.

In the brands ranking, Volkswagen (-29.4%) rallies back up two spots on January to reclaim the top spot off Mercedes (-24.4%) but both carmakers fall significantly faster than the market this month. Skoda (-8.8%) on the other hand resists relatively well and is up to #3 above BMW (-28%) in difficulty. Audi (+10.1%) sports the only year-on-year gain in the Top 6, joined in the Top 10 by Toyota (+25.2%) and Peugeot (+23.3%). Renault (-37.1%), Ford (-22.2%) and Seat (-17.3%) all lose share year-on-year. Further down, Honda (+168.3%), Maserati (+108.3%), Tesla (+59.8%) and Porsche (+16.3%) make waves while Cupra is up 8 spots on January to break into the Top 20 brands at #19. We welcome Genesis at #43 and Aiways at #48.

Model-wise, the Skoda Octavia (-27.1%) is back to its traditional top spot but doesn’t sell quite enough to reclaim the YTD pole position, still the property of the Toyota Yaris (+64.7%) down to #3 for the month. The Skoda Karoq (-1.6%) is up 9 spots on January to a fantastic 2nd place overall, a record ranking also reached last October. The Mercedes GLC (-15%) follows the market at #4 ahead of the Volvo XC40 (+6.3%) down three ranks on last month to #5. The big event in February is the 6th place of the Cupra Formentor, up 34 spots on January and the nameplate’s very first Top 10 finish anywhere in the world. An outstanding performance indeed. It evens outsells the VW Golf (+26.7%), the latter being up 30 ranks on last month to #7. Below the Formentor, the VW ID.3 (#24) is the second best-selling recent launch in Switzerland this month.

Previous month: Switzerland January 2021: Mercedes and Toyota Yaris take control in market down -19.5%

One year ago: Switzerland February 2020: Captur, Zoe propel Renault up 37.8% in market down -13.8%

Full February 2021 Top 53 All-brands and Top 310 All-models below.