The global economic recession may be taking its toll on the motoring industry, but that hasn’t stopped Skoda Auto delivering 6.5 per cent more vehicles to its customers from July-September than it did during the same period in 2008.
The largest car manufacturer in the Czech Republic delivered 174,984 new vehicles to customers compared to 164,258 last year. In total it has delivered 504,625 cars from the period January-September 2009. This equates to a 5.0 per cent fall in all, but this is still favourable compared to the rest of the market which saw an average 11.9 per cent year-on-year fall.
In an effort to remain financially strong and steady, Skoda manufactured a total of 387,574 vehicles during the first nine months of the year – that’s 22.4 per cent less than over the same period in 2008. The manufacturer has also launched several new products as highlighted by Skoda Auto board of directors chairman Reinhard Jung.
“The Skoda Yeti has been launched successfully, and we have extended the portfolio of our environmentally-friendly GreenLine vehicles,” he said. “Furthermore, we presented the estate version of our flagship product, the Skoda Superb, at the recent Frankfurt Motor Show and the feedback we are getting is very positive.
“For the first time this year, Skoda Auto has seen its sales figures grow in the third quarter. We expect this positive trend to continue also over the last three months of 2009. This year has been very difficult for the entire automotive industry. Yet we have been able to achieve very good results despite adverse macroeconomic conditions.”
The trend has been particularly pleasing in the UK with September sales rising by 24 per cent compared to the previous year. In total over the year, Skoda has delivered 25,412 new cars to customers across the UK.
