New car sales in Hungary drop 5.3% yr/yr in Q1

European Union newcomers have boosted car sales by 13% year on year to 265,250 in the first quarter of 2007, while sales in Hungary dropped by 5.3% from Q1 2006, the Hungarian Vehicle Importers Association (MGE) said on Monday.

A total of 42,073 vehicles were sold in Hungary in January-March this year, down from 44,415 in the same period of 2006, said Gábor Győző, President of the Hungarian Vehicle Importers Association (MGE), adding that he expected the number of passenger cars sold at 170,000 by year-end.

The drop in sales affected Suzuki the most, which suffered a 19% decline in Q1 (7,762 cars sold vs. 9,586 a year earlier). Meanwhile, Audi managed to up sales to525 cars from 422 in the first quarter of last year. Mercedes sold 294 cars (5 more than in Q1 2006) and Volvo expanded sales by 45 cars to 320.

The contraction of the market did not leave small commercial vehicles sales unaffected, either. In Hungary a total of 5,127 vans up to 3.5 tonnes were sold in Q1, only 2.4% more than in the first quarter of 2006.