Car industry Swiss car market continues to decline in October

Sales figures on the Swiss car market fell again in October. Meanwhile, electric vehicles and cars with hybrid drives are becoming increasingly popular. Never before has the proportion of new cars sold with alternative drive systems been as high as this year.

A total of 18,753 new cars were sold in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein in October. This is 7.9 percent fewer than in the same month last year, as reported by the Swiss Automobile Import Association on Wednesday. This means that 194,483 new cars were sold after ten months. This corresponds to a decline of 4.3 percent compared to the previous year.

The market share of cars with alternative drive systems has reached a record 60.5 percent of new registrations this year. In October, electric and hybrid drives even accounted for almost two thirds of all new registrations.

Full and mild hybrids dominate the market

The share of electric cars rose by just under 6% in October to around a fifth of all new registrations. Plug-in hybrids, which can be charged from the power grid, remained at a share of around 9 percent. The share of full and mild hybrids, which have dominated the market for several months, rose by a good 8 percent to over a third of new registrations.

In contrast, fewer and fewer petrol cars are being sold. In October, they only accounted for around a quarter of all new cars. Compared to the previous year, their share fell by around 5 percent. The share of diesel passenger cars remained at just under 9 percent.

The number of cars with hybrid or electric drives on Swiss roads is therefore increasing significantly, according to the Auto Schweiz communiqué. The association also cites figures from the Federal Statistical Office. According to these figures, alternative drive systems account for almost 14 percent of the 4.8 million passenger cars registered in Switzerland. A year ago, it was still around 11 percent.

SDA