Market: Stromer important in the race to catch up
FULL FORCE AHEAD With the opening of the showrooms, brand dealers are starting a race to catch up in order to turn the sales shortfall into a plus and achieve the forecast 270,000 new registrations. Only 16,131 new cars were registered in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein in February. This corresponds to a minus [...]
Only 16,131 new passenger cars were registered in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein in February. This corresponds to a drop of 2977 vehicles compared to the same month last year and represents the worst February result since the turn of the millennium.
After two months, the Swiss car market in 2021 with 31,261 new registrations is behind the already weak figures of the previous year.
Excessive impacts during the first wave
Christoph Wolnik, spokesman for the importers' association auto-schweiz: "The task now is to make up the shortfall as quickly as possible and turn it into a plus. Hopefully we can surpass last year's poor figures from the first wave of the pandemic in March and April 2020."
Last year, the impact during the first coronavirus wave was too great to be made up for later in the year. This was due to closed production plants and the canceled Geneva International Motor Show, as well as the fact that the showrooms were closed during the spring business."
Plug-in vehicles continue to grow
The number of new hybrid and electric models rose again in the first two calendar months. This is an important trend for achieving the targets set by importers.
Electric cars increased by 54.3% to 2412 registrations, while plug-in hybrids grew by 62.2% to 2325 units. Hybrids without an external charging option accounted for 6553 registrations, which corresponds to an increase of 61.5 percent.
Overall, 36.2 percent of new cars in Switzerland are fitted with an engine that is not a pure petrol or diesel unit.
