The Volkswagen Golf and Skoda Octavia maintained their positions at the top of the list of most popular car models in Switzerland in 2010. The VW Polo, Opel Astra, and Renault Mégane vastly improved their relative positions on the list of best-selling cars in Switzerland. The new passenger vehicle market in Switzerland grew by 10.6% in 2010 to 294,239 cars sold – the highest number since 2002. Volkswagen was again the top selling car brand in Switzerland in 2010.
The Top 20 Best-Selling Car Models in Switzerland in 2010
Statistics released by Auto Schweiz show the following car models to have been the most popular new passenger vehicle registrations in Switzerland in 2010:
- Car Make and Model – Number of Cars Sold in Switzerland in 2010
- VW Golf – 12,155
- Skoda Octavia – 7,771
- VW Polo – 6,061
- Opel Astra – 4,709
- Audi A4/S4 – 4,690
- BMW 3 Series – 4,562
- Renault Mégane – 4,345
- Ford Fiesta – 4,315
- Peugeot 207 – 3,990
- Audi A3/S3 – 3,913
- Seat Ibiza – 3,856
- VW Passat – 3,856
- Renault Clio – 3,745
- BMW X1 – 3,486
- VW Tiguan – 3,477
- Opel Corsa – 3,464
- Ford Focus – 3,409
- Fiat 500 – 3,352
- VW Touran – 3,351
- Nissan Qashqai – 3,331
There were only three new entrants onto the top-twenty list of the best-selling car models in Switzerland in 2010 but many cars changed relative positions within the list. The VW Golf significantly increased its lead at the top (only 9,726 Golfs were sold in Switzerland in 2009) while the Skoda Octavia was also easily the second most popular car model on the Swiss market.
The new entrants on the lists are the Opel Astra in the fourth spot (up from a miserable 28 last year), the BMW X1 (a new model), and the Nissan Qasqai (up from 26). The three cars that dropped out of the top-twenty list of most-sold car models in Switzerland in 2010 are the Honda Jazz (from 13 to 22), BMW 1 Series (from 18 to 25) and the Mini (down from 12 to 37).
Volkswagen had five models in the top twenty but apart from the Golf and the Polo, the Passat, Tiguan, and Touran all dropped four to six places. Audi had a relatively weak year in Switzerland in 2010 and with sales growing by less than a percentage point lost market share. The Audi A4 dropped from third to fifth and the Audi A3 from fifth to tenth place.
Renault, which replaced Audi as the second strongest car manufacturer in Switzerland in 2010, saw the Renault Mégane improve ten places to seventh. Fiat (-2.8%) had a weak year and saw the Fiat 500 slip from seventh to eighteenth place over all.
During 2010, the BMW X1 replaced the VW Tiguan as the most popular SUV on the Swiss market.
The Swiss car market in 2010 was robust with sales improving by over ten percent to 294,239 new cars sold. Virtually all manufacturers were able to increase new passenger vehicle registrations in Switzerland in 2010.
Henk Bekker - Henk Bekker is a freelance travel writer currently living on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
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