Automobile market in Switzerland: Excellent year 2016

The year 2015 was characterized by the enormous devaluation of the euro against the Swiss franc. Rapid price reductions in response by Swiss automotive importers led to the second-best result since the turn of the millennium. For this reason, auto-schweiz members had expected a minus for 2016, but this has now turned out to be lower than expected. The month of December also contributed to this with a record result of 35,325 cars registered for the first time (+2,683, +8.2 percent).

"The Swiss car market showed a good side last year," says Andreas Burgener, Director of auto-schweiz, summing up the 2016 annual results. However, the good market development should not hide the sharp drop in margins for importers and official brand dealers, Burgener continues.

Three trends can be derived from the 2016 figures:

• The all-wheel drive boom continues. With a record market share of 44.2 percent, Switzerland is expected to once again take the top 4×4 spot in Europe. The strong demand for high safety equipment continues unabated. However, the resulting higher vehicle weight and corresponding additional consumption make it difficult for Swiss importers to comply with average CO2 limits.
• Diesel is becoming increasingly popular, despite all the prophecies of doom. Almost four out of ten new passenger cars had a diesel engine under the hood in 2016. Here, too, the 39.2 percent market share is a record. Diesel will remain important in the future in order to achieve the climate targets set in Paris.
• Alternative drive systems are gaining ground, but remain at a low level. Here, too, an all-time high of 4.7 percent market share was achieved. However, only gasoline hybrids recorded significantly higher unit sales than in the previous year (+2,496 or 33.9 percent). Purely electric cars were flat and, as in 2015, achieved a market share of 1.0 percent (3,295 vehicles, +38 or 1.2 percent).

The detailed figures by brand are available at www.auto.swiss available.