Skoda Octavia Remains Hungarians’ Favorite Car

Skoda Octavia was again the favorite car of Hungarians in June, ahead of the Esztergom-made Suzuki Cross and the Toyota Corolla. For months now, the Czech brand has been doing very well in Hungary, although many think there is a reason for this, which is mainly due to old orders – reports Világgazdaság.

June brought mixed results in the new car market, as although the 10,470 registrations were an increase of over 10 percent compared to the same period last year, the second quarter balance still failed to turn positive. According to Datahouse, a leading data provider, 28,720 new passenger cars were registered in the country between April and the end of June 2022, compared with 28,019 in the same period in 2023. This difference (701) explains the 2.4% drop.

There is no change in the brands’ ranking, with

Skoda again leading the way with its 1,277 cars delivered,

but experts say the Czech group is performing strongly this year mainly because of its old orders. To back this up, in April,  Péter Simon, chairman of the board of Duna Autó Zrt., which has 19 dealerships and 24 service centers, told Világgazdaság that they are replenishing their stocks with Skoda cars that were ordered already two years ago, in 2021.

Toyota, which came second in the June race with 1,247 units, is working with shorter delivery times, while Suzuki, the bronze medalist with a Hungarian production line, has not yet reached the 1,000-unit mark (970).

The overall picture is still clouded by the fact that it is not possible to clearly distinguish between old and new contracts and that private buyers are virtually disappearing from the market.

In the first six months of the year, Toyota has gained an almost unassailable lead: the Japanese brand has sold 7,560 cars so far, compared with 5,566 for Skoda, and 4,871 for Volkswagen.

Meanwhile, Skoda Octavia is once again the favorite among Hungarians (723 units), Suzuki S-Cross sales last month totaled 465, while the number of new Toyota Corolla owners increased by 390. Suzuki Vitara came very close to the podium with 365 cars sold.

The sales ranking for new cars in the second quarter (units) was as follows:
Skoda: 3,289, Toyota: 3,251, Suzuki: 2,608, Volkswagen: 2,551, Kia: 1,867, Ford: 1,594, BMW: 1,309, Mercedes: 1,290, Opel: 1,129, Audi: 1,068.

András Varga, marketing director of Magyar Suzuki Zrt. in Esztergom, Hungary, recently said that

as much as they would like to cut prices, the cost of producing cars is constantly getting more expensive, so there is no chance of that happening.

The list price, for example, of the S-Cross 1.4L soft hybrid 6MT 2WD GL is currently 9 million HUF (EUR 23,780), while the Vitara 1.4 soft hybrid 6MT 2WD GL is 8.49 million HUF (EUR 22,433). The Suzuki’s loyalty program allows buyers to save some HUF 1.05 million (EUR 2,774) when joining.

The outlook is not very promising either: prices are unlikely to fall and low interest rates could hurt the forint-euro exchange rate, so it’s still best to jump on any occasional special offers.

Featured image: Facebook/SKODA