Switzerland 2012 Results Highlights

Swiss car market was able to sell 328.000 units, up a tiny 3%. The market was mainly boosted by a big jump in SUV’s registrations, up 19%, as B-Segment car sales fell 5%. Switzerland is one of the few European car markets where SUV segment ranks first (Estonia and Iceland as well), counting for 21,4% of total sales. In 2011 they ranked third as the best-selling segments, but the big growth on mid-size SUV (C and D) allowed this kind of cars to become the most popular in the country. As it happens in Austria, Swiss market is clearly influenced by Germans, and VW is of course the leader of the market. More than 29% of total sales came from VW Group cars, and VW brand, Audi, and Skoda were the top 3 best-selling brands in the country. But BMW and Daimler are quite strong as well, increasing their sales more than overall market. In the negative side, the other mainstream brands registrations fell, and Fiat-Chrysler lost 1 basic point of market share as its sales grew up only 2%. The reason for this low growth: Alfa’s bad results that had an impact on the excellent performance of Jeep, up 57%, and Lancia, up 31%. Fiat brand’s sales advanced only 4% to more than 10.000 units, counting for 58% of the group’s sales (VW brand counts for 46% of VW Group sales). The group’s best-selling models: the usual Fiat 500 and Panda, followed by the Punto, the Giulietta, and the Grand Cherokee, which plays an important role in Switzerland.

Switzerland is one of the markets with the highest share for VW Group. SUVs are now the most popular segment. Source: see at the bottom of this post.

As usual, Fiat-Chrysler depends a lot on Fiat brand and its city-cars. Last year, despite Alfa Romeo’s drop, the group sold a bit more than the previous one. Source: see at the bottom of this post.

The Grand Cherokee is a key product for Fiat-Chrysler in Switzerland. Its share in E-SUV segment is 13%, as good as the 500 and Panda in A-Segment. The same for the Freemont in D-MPV segment. Source: see at the bottom of this post.

Click here to see 2012 other countries’ results

Source: Fiat Group’s World data basis, Best-Selling cars blog, Auto-Suisse