Economy 5 January 2022, 3:59pm

2021 passenger car ranking published: These vehicles sold like hot cakes in Hungary

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The new car market in Hungary continued to shrink in 2021, mainly due to global chip shortages, delays in the delivery of key components, higher production costs, the weakening forint and double-digit increases in list prices. In a challenging year, Suzuki continued to dominate the passenger car market last year, thanks to the domestically produced Vitara and SX4 S-Cross models, while Ford confidently dominated the market of small commercial vehicles.

uj auto forgalomba helyezes kedvenc magyar automarkak 2021

It has been a very difficult year for the Hungarian car market, and despite heightened expectations, 2021 brought further contraction, with global chip shortages, delays in the delivery of key parts, higher production costs, a weakening forint and a double-digit rise in list prices all playing a major role.

LAST YEAR, 121,920 PASSENGER CARS WERE REGISTERED IN HUNGARY, which corressponds to a 4.8% DECLINE over 2020, WHICH WAS ALSO EXTREMELY CHALLENGING.

The latest sales figures undershot even those that the Hungarian Association of Motor Vehicle Importers (MGE) had revised downwardly earlier. The MGE had previously estimated that 126,000 new cars would be registered in Hungary in 2021.

These were the favourite car brands in Hungary in 2021

Last year, Suzuki carved out nearly 14.5% of the Hungarian passenger car market, with 17,650 cars registered. The brand has led passenger car sales in Hungary for the sixth year running, with the Esztergom-made Suzuki Vitara and SX4 S-Cross models playing a dominant role in 2021. Toyota came in second in this ranking with 12,077 new passenger cars sold and a market share of nearly 10%, followed by Ford, Kia and Skoda. Mercedes-Benz was also the only premium car manufacturer to make it to the TOP10 best performing brands, with 5,680 units sold, accounting for almost 4.7% of the total market last year. It is also interesting to note that a total of 184 Teslas were sold in Hungary in 2021.

The most popular segment last year in terms of unit sales was the compact segment (C), which included the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross, the Kia Ceed and the Skoda Octavia models. In this category, these models sold the most in 2021. Without breaking down SUVs into separate categories, this segment was by far the most popular in Hungary, in line with global trends. More than 55,000 SUVs were registered in Hungary, accounting for more than 45% of the total passenger car market.

The Vitara, which has been produced in Esztergom since 2015 and has been renewed since then, also led the passenger car segment with a 32% share of the B-SUV segment, with a total of 8,350 units registered last year. The Dacia Duster and the Jeep Renegade models also continued to be very popular among SUVs.

Ford is king among small commercial vehicles

2021 was a challenging year that has also left its mark on the small commercial vehicle market, but despite this, a total of 22,984 vehicles were sold last year, representing a 4.3% increase compared to 2020. Of the individual brands, Ford sold the most vehicles in Hungary last year, with 6,659 units, giving the brand a market share of nearly 29%. Renault came second with 2,878 vehicles sold, while Fiat 'snatched the bronze' with 2,593 units.

IT IS WORTH NOTING THAT THE HUNGARIAN ASSOCIATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE PORTERS HAD FORECAST SALES OF 22,000 UNITS IN THE SMALL commercial vehicle MARKET FOR 2021, WHICH WAS EXCEEDED BY 4.5%.