Škoda Auto confirms pole position in 2014 for local car sales

Czech car sales represent a small slice of the overall market for the country’s three local manufacturers. But safeguarding local market share is still a matter of pride and profit for the companies. And the battle for an expanding market last year was especially intense.

Hyundai i20, photo: Hyundai

South Korean car maker Hyundai is now promoting its small family car, the i20, with a heavy advertising campaign to grab a bigger slice of the Czech domestic car market. The ad for the car produced at Hyundai’s Czech car plant at Nošovice in the far east of the country takes a cheeky dig at the Czech Republic’s biggest car maker Škoda Auto.

And the domestic battle for car sales between Hyundai and Škoda Auto was one of the main features of 2014 as Czechs rediscovered their spending confidence and made record purchases of new vehicles from car showrooms. Sales last year climbed by almost 17 percent compared to 2013 with just over 192,000 new cars delivered according to the Association of Car Importers. It should be pointed out perhaps that around two-thirds of the total sales are company and not personal purchases.

Car wars 2014 style between top Czech sellers was particularly rough. Hyundai in particular is estimated to have spent a small fortune on publicity, partly connected with its sponsorship of football’s World Cup, and launched what were denounced by rivals as sharp sales practices. These included installing Škoda models in its showrooms and asking potential buyers to spot the differences with its models.

But the outcome from the intense activity appears to have been largely inconclusive. Last year Škoda Auto convincing held on to its pole sales position with 30.2 percent of the market, just slightly down on its share in 2013. Škoda models the Octavia, Rapid, and Fabia were also the top three sellers on the Czech market.

Photo: Škoda Auto

Hyundai again came second overall with 9.84% of sales, also marginally down from its market share in 2013. Volkswagen and Ford again came third and fourth in the rankings. The biggest surprise was the sharp jump by Romanian low cost manufacturer Dacia to fifth place last year from ninth in 2013. Low prices rather than costly advertising appear to have been the biggest factor there.

And how is Czech confidence expected to fuel car sales in 2015? Well, international consultancy Pricewaterhousecoopers estimated this week that Czech car sales this year will rise by between 3.5 and 6.5 percent. So there should be even more to fight over in the next 12 months.