Switzerland Fleet Registrations Continue Decline

Fleet vehicle registrations in Switzerland fell by 5.7% in the month of January, which followed overall fleet registrations in the region dropping by 21.4% for 2018 as a whole on the year.

Despite this decline, Volkswagen was the strongest manufacturer in the region for January, getting 13.9% registrations, with two of its vehicles in the top five utility models in the region: the VW Transporter and the VW Caddy, according to Dataforce. This was followed by Skoda, which had 13.4% registrations, and was bolstered by the success of its Octavia sedan.

The utilities segment recorded substantial growth, and increased 54.3% in January.

Rounding out the top five automakers in terms of fleet registrations was Peugeot in third, followed by Fiat and Audi.

The report also found Swiss fleets are becoming increasingly interested in diesel-powered vehicles. While petrol registrations in the first quarter of 2018 were still 2.7 percentage points higher than diesel registrations, this gap was closed by the end of the year and converted into a 0.1 percentage point lead, with diesel at 46.6% and petrol at 46.5%, according to Dataforce. Meanwhile, the market share of electric vehicles in the true fleet market was 2.9%.