After a comparatively weak August, the Swiss passenger car market returned into green zone with positive growth in September. Some strong increases were achieved in all market channels, the majority of which came as a consequence of the new WLTP emission standard introduced last year which played a considerable role.
Passenger car market in September 2019
Both the private market (+ 14.2 %) and commercial registrations (+ 19.0 %) grew strongly. Particularly noteworthy is the performance of the True Fleet market, which grew by a whopping 24.6 percent year-on-year with an increase of more than 1,000 registrations. Registrations by Short-Term Rental companies (+ 10.2 %) and Dealer & Manufacturer (+ 15.7 %) also increased, rounding off the positive overall picture and clearly putting all market channels in the green. This growth however was certainly boosted as a result of a weak month in the previous year which saw the introduction of WLTP, leading to supply bottlenecks restricting the number of registrations. It certainly appears that vehicle importers were much better prepared this year for the latest emissions standard rollout which came into force at the beginning of September.
Four brands doubled their fleet registrations in September year-on-year
The positive performance of the True Fleet Market also made itself felt at brand level. In September within the ranking of the top 15 importer brands, four more than doubled their registration figures from the previous year , these were Opel (+ 249.6 %), Citroen (+ 176.6 %), Tesla (+ 125.9 %) and Porsche (+ 112.2 ). Top ranking models were, Opel with the Crossland X and Citroen with the C3 model which were clearly ahead of the competition taking 2nd and 3rd place respectively but once again the undisputed No. 1 fleet vehicle at present remains the Skoda Octavia.
Fleet growth across all Swiss regions
Even across the various Swiss regions, fleet registrations stayed consistently in the green. The Lake Geneva Region in particular (+ 81.8 %) recorded significant growth within the cantons of Vaud (+ 140.7 %), Valais (+ 28.2 %) and Geneva (+ 7.9 %).
