the Greek car market is highly competitive with brand popularity determined by price. In January-November 2006, Toyota performed well due to a more aggressive marketing campaign and the declining value of the yen to the euro, which pushed down prices. The Japanese carmaker continued to lead the market based on full year figures for 2006, taking a 9.5% share of the market. According to industry data, Hyundai’s sales plummeted by 20.7% last year. The carmaker also dropped from first to fourth place on the market, with new car registrations for the year totalling 19,715 units. Volkswagen (VW) saw its positive run continue, with sales rising by 11.3%. The carmaker hauled itself up from fifth to second place on the market thanks to sales of 21,256 units.
In 2006 the minicar segment was the fastest growing in the Greek automotive sector, representing 10% of sales in the period January-November 2006, compared to 7.8% in 2005. The Fiat Panda topped sales for this segment last year, taking a 16.6% share of the market. The Hyundai Atos and Kia Motors’ Picanto vehicle completed the top three best-selling vehicles in this segment for 2006. The medium and large car segments saw the largest drop in market share, falling from 31.4% and 12.1% to 29.1% and 11.1% respectively. The largest segment continued to be the small car segment, representing 29.7% of sales. The Hyundai Getz and Toyota Yaris represented 8.8% and 8.4% of segment sales respectively.
Developments so far in 2007 have been much the same. Hyundai, for example, has seen two of its popular vehicles lose significant market share. According to industry data, Hyundai’s Atos vehicle fell back to sixth place in the minicar segment with a 9.04% share of the market. The carmaker’s Getz vehicle, meanwhile, slipped to fourth place in the small car segment, on the back of a 6.59% market share. BMI is forecasting a further fall in passenger car sales in 2007 to 267,000 units on the back of slower economic growth.
