First quarter car sales drop 26 percent in Czech Republic

Car sales in the Czech Republic fell by 26 percent in the first quarter of 2020 to 95,029 according to the Association of Automobile Exporters. The biggest seller was Skoda, but it sold 17 percent fewer cars (36,551) than it did in the first quarter of 2019. It was followed by Hyundai, whose sales fell 7 percent to 7,999 and by Volkswagen, whose 7,665 sales in the Czech Republic represented a fall of 29 percent. Dacia and Toyota made up fourth and fifth place with 4,772 and 4,180 deals between January and March. By far, the most popular model among Czechs is Skoda's Octavia, which was bought 10,410 times during the first quarter. That was followed by another four Skoda models, the Fabia (8,265), Skala (3,906), Karoq (3,794) and Kamiq (3,776). Hyundai's i30 came in sixth. Three times as many electric vehicles sold this year as last year, but the total was still just 1,028.