Switzerland March 2021: VW Tiguan and Tesla Model 3 top market up 43.7%

The VW Tiguan is the best-selling vehicle in Switzerland in March.

New car sales in Switzerland rebound 43.7% year-on-year in March to 25.236 units, tilting the year-to-date tally into positive at +1.9% and 56.497 sales. Note the March 2021 volume is down -12.8% on March 2019 pre-pandemic levels. 4×4 sales trail the market at +30.5% and 12.467 units for a 49.4% share vs. 54.4% a year ago, while alternatively fuelled vehicles soar 111% to 9.424 and 37.3% share vs. 25.4% in March 2020. Year-to-date, AFV are up 76.3% to 20.756 and 36.7% share vs. 21.2% over Q1 2020.

Volkswagen (+33.6%) can’t quite catch up with the market growth but repeats as the #1 brand for March. The Top 3 brands all fit within a little more than 100 sales, with BMW (+57%) up two spots on last month to #2 and Mercedes (+56.1%) down one to #3. Mercedes remains the brand leader year-to-date. Skoda (+19.3%) also drops one spot to #4, distancing Audi (+60%), Seat (+32.6%) and Renault (+28.3%). Volvo (+83.4%) signs the largest year-on-year gain in the Top 10 at #10. Further down, Honda (+527.5%), Suzuki (+129.4%), Opel (+107.8%), Subaru (+97.4%), Peugeot (+95%), Nissan (+77.4%), Porsche (+77.2%) and Kia (+77%) make themselves noticed. Cupra is down 10 ranks on February to #29 and 0.8% share.

The models ranking remains very volatile and crowns the VW Tiguan (+21.4%) for the month, only 8 sales above the Tesla Model 3 (-28.5%) and 10 ahead of the Mercedes A-Class (+104.7%). The Skoda Octavia (-28.6%) endures the largest drop in the Top 80 (!) but tops the Q1 2021 charts above the Mercedes A-Class and VW Tiguan. The Skoda Karoq (+80.3%) is down two spots on February to #4, the Seat Ateca (+118.5%) is up three to #5 and the Audi Q3 (+95.2%) up five to #6 making it four SUVs in the Top 6. The BMW X1 (+96.4%) and Fiat 500 (+92.8%) also shine in the remainder of the Top 10 while the VW Golf is down to #10 and 1.5% share.

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

One year ago: Switzerland March 2021: Mitsubishi, Porsche only islands of growth in market down -39.4%

Full March 2021 Top 55 All-brands and Top 315 All-models below.