Market: Dacia is a sought-after used car
RECORD In Switzerland, 4,850,053 passenger vehicles have been registered, more than ever before. The stock is increasing by 50,000 vehicles a year. The combustion engine still dominates the business. René Mitteregger, data specialist at auto-i-dat, sees the reason for this development primarily in the fact that there is a certain uncertainty among new car buyers about [...]
René Mitteregger, data specialist at auto-i-dat, sees the reason for this development primarily in the fact that there is a certain amount of uncertainty among new car buyers as to which drive concept prospective buyers should opt for.
Another factor contributing to the decline last year was the supply bottlenecks experienced by various brands as a result of the new WLTP emissions measurement procedure. Virtually all brands are affected by the decline in new registrations, albeit to varying degrees.
Dynamic used car market
The used car market, on the other hand, is more stable. In 2018, only 0.8 percent fewer vehicles were traded compared with the previous year. The fact that the used car market is more dynamic than the new car market is also reflected in the fact that average standing times have decreased.
The top 3 in terms of short idle times in 2018 were Dacia (average of 56 days), Seat (66 days) and Tesla (66 days). At the other end of the ranking are Infinity (260 days), Lada (238 days) and MG (232 days).
Combustion engine still in the lead
Despite all the positive reports from the field of alternative drive systems, the combustion engine still dominates Swiss roads. 97.2 percent of all vehicles are currently powered by gasoline or diesel. However, the decline of diesel in new registrations intensified last year: compared to the previous year, sales of diesel vehicles fell by 20 percent. At the end of July of the current year, the decline was 11.7 percent.
Fleets relied on alternatives
While hybrid and gasoline vehicles are predominantly put into circulation by private individuals, the share of companies is already high in the case of diesel (25.2 percent), electric drive (27.2 percent) and vehicles powered by natural gas or biogas (28.5 percent).
Companies now redeem more than 40 percent of all diesel vehicles, 38 percent of all electric vehicles and 46 percent of all gas-powered vehicles.
