Slovenia May 2021: Fiat 500 best-seller for the first time in shy market (+3.4%)

The Fiat 500 is the best-selling vehicle in Slovenia in May.

New car sales in Slovenia edge up 3.4% year-on-year in May to 5.261 registrations, meaning the year-to-date tally is now up 20.5% to 25.833. Note May 2021 sales remain well below pre-pandemic levels of two years ago at -29.3% on the 7.447 units of May 2019 and -24.4% year-to-date (34.155). The top of the brands ranking shows wildly different evolutions. Volkswagen (+1.6%) trails the market slightly but remains a solid leader at 17.2% share vs. 16.4% so far this year. Skoda (+30.3%) displays a very healthy year-on-year gain but remains below its YTD level at 11.7% share vs. 12.8% while Renault (-30.8%) is in freefall but gains one spot on April to #3. Fiat (+93.6%), Hyundai (+65.8%) and Ford (+57.9%) secure fantastic gains in the remainder of the Top 10. Further down, Seat (+156.8%), Audi (+147.1%), Mercedes (+80.4%) and Porsche (+80%) stand out.

Model-wise, the Fiat 500 (+328.8%) quadruples its sales year-on-year and gains 22 spots on April to end the month in pole position which is believed to be a first for the nameplate in Slovenia. Its previous best was #2 in September 2018. Such a sudden surge is likely to have been caused by fleet sales such as a batch of rentals in the lead-up to the Summer holidays. Leader last month, the VW T-Cross (+46.3%) is knocked down to a still very respectable 2nd place in May, ranking #3 so far this year. The year-to-date leader, the Renault Clio (-49.8%) slices its sales in two year-on-year but remains in third place for the month. The Renault Captur is up 8 ranks on last month to land at #4, distancing a very dynamic Skoda Kamiq (+133.9%) up one spot on April to #5. The Hyundai Kona (+140.7%) and Fiat Panda (+109.8%) also more than double their volumes year-on-year to round out the Top 10. The Citroen C4 leads recent launches (<12 months) at #54 above the Skoda Enyaq (#55), Cupra Formentor (#70) and Opel Mokka (#78).

Previous month: Slovenia April 2021: VW T-Cross wins for the 2nd time ever in market up 131.9%

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

Full May 2021 Top 40 All-brands and Top 215 All-models below.