Sales of luxury cars plummet as Estonians turn to more affordable vehicles
06.09.2012, 16:39The time when Estonians were buying a new car not according to its value for money, but for its appearance and status seem to be gone, writes Postimees.
While new car sales in Estonia grew 8 percent in August year on year, Estonian car dealers say that they delivered only three luxury models in August which accounts for only 0.2 percent of total car sales.
According to AMTEL, the association of car sales and servicing companies, 1,423 new cars were sold by member dealerships in August. 220 new utility vehicles were also sold.
The most popular car brand was in August was Toyota with 203 cars, followed by Škoda (139) and Volkswagen (134).
According to first registrations, the most popular models among buyers of new cars are Toyota Avensis, Mitsubishi I-Miev (electric car), Skoda Octavia, Nissan Qashqai, Renault Megane and Subaru Legacy.
The statistics of AMTEL do not include sales figures of Renault and Dacia Estonian distributors.
About a third of all new car sales are small medium class. According to dealers, high fuel cost and economic uncertainty means that buyers are increasingly choosing affordable and fuel-efficient cars over SUVs.
A new poll made by Faktum & Ariko showed that 42 percent of respondents have been thinking about buying a more fuel-efficient car in the future.
In Amserv, sale of diesel cars has gone up from 28 percent to 35 percent.