New car sales grew year on year. Compared to the February last year, new car sales this February practically exploded. In concrete terms, this means that this February has seen sales of 3,840 new cars, 1,217 more than in the same month last year. In the first two months of 2018, total new car sales came to 7,546 new vehicles, 2,090 or +38% more than in 2017.
Croats seem to still love VW the most, as it is again, as in January, the most sold brand with 587 cars. The second most beloved brand is again a part of the VW group, this time Skoda with 498 cars. Third place went to Suzuki with 359 new cars, and Ford came in fourth with 270 cars. Above the 200 mark were Opel with 265 cars, Hyundai with 258, and Renault with 224 new cars sold. And the 100 mark was hit by Peugot, selling 154 cars, Dacia, selling 148, Audi (as the only premium brand selling over 100 cars) with 132, Citroen with 119, Toyota and Mazda selling 118 each, and Kia selling 117. Tesla sold 1 car.
By far the bestselling vehicle was Skoda Octavia, selling 373 cars. VW Golf came in second, with 207 new cars, and Suzuki Vitara was third, with 167 cars. Next came Ford Focus with 154, Suzuki SX4 with 112, VW Polo with 109, and VW Tiguan with 95, Dacia Sandero with 90, Ford Kuga with 85 and Renault Clio with 83.
Most, 3,838 or 50.9% of new cars, use gasoline for fuel. Another 3,548 use diesel, and 94 were hybrid vehicles. Only four of the new cars were fully electric. Toyota sold most of the hybrids, 85, and 136 gasoline and 54 diesel cars. VW sold 578 regular and 545 diesel-fueled cars. Suzuki, on the other hand, sold 614 gasoline powered cars, and only 23 diesels. It did sell 11 LNG-powered cars, but Opel led that field selling 24, followed by Dacia, selling 19 LNG cars.
Most cars were sold in the Zagreb area – 2,853 cars or 37.81%, followed by Rijeka with 679, Split region with 536, Međimurje County with 527 and Istria with 511. Virovitica and Lika-Senj counties came in last, with 23 and 17 new cars sold, respectively, staying below 1% of the national average.
It seems that the increase in sales is due at least in part to the new excise regime and the new modalities for VAT calculation for companies. But the full impact of new rules will probably only be seen in May. When it comes to used vehicles, more were bought outside of Croatia than in the country, but so far no further details are out.