In the last month for the first quarter of 2020, Swiss commercial fleet registrations took a heavy downturn under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Company registrations in the true fleet market fell by 30.1% in March. At the end of the first quarter, they were thus 20.6% down on the same quarter of the previous year, according to Dataforce. Meanwhile, combined self-registrations of dealer/importers fell by 51.8% in March and car rental registrations by as much as 65.8% down on the same month last year.

Meanwhile, the private market declined by 38.4%

The effects of the coronavirus pandemic have contributed to a significant slump in the Swiss passenger car market at the end of the first quarter. Just over 17,350 registered passenger cars in March represented a decline of 40.6% compared with the same month last year, said Dataforce. Registrations of light commercial vehicles were also affected by this development – albeit not quite as strongly – with a decline of 23.0%.

In terms of total volume, Volkswagen, Skoda, and BMW were the top three brands in the true fleet market at the end of the first quarter, despite each experiencing overall declines. Among the top 15 fleet models in March, the Volkswagen Passat, the Audi A4, and the BMW 3 Series, all recorded growth.

The highest-volume fleet models in the first quarter were the Skoda Octavia, the Volkswagen Passat, and the Volkswagen Transporter.