Car sales pick up slightly

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The motor trade, crippled by the recession, started picking up again in the summer, and the slight increase is now showing up in the vehicle registration statistics.
      However, the business still lags significantly behind figures for 2008.
     
According to figures published by the Finnish Central Organisation for Motor Trades and Repairs (AKL), a total of 7,610 new cars were put into the register in the month of October.
      The three most popular makes of car were Toyota (19% of all new registrations in October), Volkswagen, and Ford, followed by Skoda, Volvo, and Audi.
      These six accounted for nearly 60% of all new car sales in the month.
     
Among the top ten, the car manufacturers that have suffered most from the slump in the industry are Nissan, Peugeot, and Volvo, with roughly 44 per cent lower registration figures compared with a year ago.
      Saab sales have also slumped, along with those of Citroens, Fiats, and luxury marques such as Jaguar and Lexus.
     
Among individual car models, the nation's favourite was the Volkswagen Golf with 397 units sold in October.
      The runner-up was the Skoda Octavia followed by the long-term favourite Toyota Corolla with 366 and 343 registered vehicles respectively.
      The VW Golf also occupied the top place for the year to date, with the Octavia in 3rd place behind the Toyota Avensis.
     
In 2008, total new car sales amounted to just over 139,000.
      This year's aggregate figures are set to fall short by quite some way - probably in the region of 30%.


Links:
  The Finnish Information Centre of Automobile Sector (AuT) - monthly figures (in Finnish, .pdf file))

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