Škoda car sales 7.9% higher in Jan-Sept

Mlada Boleslav, Central Bohemia, Oct 11 (CTK) - Skoda Auto sold 717,200 cars in the Jan-Sept period, an annual rise of 7.9 percent, and in Sept alone sales rose by 3.3 percent to 83,900 units, the largest Czech car maker told CTK in a press release Thursday.

Car sales in Western Europe dropped to 33,700 units in Sept from 35,200 in Sept 2011. Skoda's share of the markets in Western Europe, however, rose to over 3 percent in Jan to Sept from 2.8 percent in the same year-ago period.

Supplies to the strongest German market grew by 9.2 percent to 13,700 cars in Sept.

Sept sales in Eastern Europe soared by 22.7 percent to 11,700 units, while in Central Europe the car maker sold 9,300 cars, a drop of around 10.5 percent.

Russian sales were more than 35 percent higher at 8,800 units, Czech sales declined by almost 10 percent to 4,600 cars.

Jan-Sept sale in Central Europe increased by 3 percent to 94,000 units and the market share added 0.4 percent to 18.8 percent.

The situation in some of the European markets is still difficult but Skoda Auto managed to raise its market share, said Werner Eichhorn, a board member in charge of sales and marketing.

In the months ahead Skoda expects to show better results. In Oct it starts selling the new model Rapid in Europe.

Sept sales in China grew by 6.6 percent to 22,500, the best monthly result since Skoda's entry into the market.

Sales in India posted a rise of 18.3 percent to 2,600 cars, more than a half of them being the local variant of the new model Rapid.

Octavia was the best-selling brand in Sept, with 35,800 cars sold, an annual decrease of 2.1 percent. Fabia sales went down by 22 percent to 18,900 cars and Roomster sale dropped by 1 percent to 3,500 units.

On the contrary, Superb sales rose by 4.2 percent to 10,700 cars and Yeti sales added nearly 30 percent to 8,400. As many as 4,900 Citigo cars were sold in Europe in Sept.