Škoda Auto sells record 939,200 cars in 2012

Mlada Boleslav, Jan 11 (CTK) - Skoda Auto sold a record number of 939,200 cars last year, raising the sales by 6.8 percent year on year from 879,200 cars in 2011, and its supplies grew on all markets except for western Europe, the car maker's spokesman Jozef Balaz told CTK.

Octavia with 409,600 units sold was the top-selling car model again. Skoda Auto counts on further growth in sales, to be backed by the already launched sale of third-generation Octavia and further new models. Record sales of 66,200 cars were seen also in December.

The company considers the Chinese market as the most promising. In 2012, it sold 235,700 cars with a 7.1 percent yr/yr growth there.

A two-digit growth in sales was seen also in eastern Europe where Skoda Auto sold 137,100 cars last year, 26.4 percent more yr/yr. Sales in India rose by 14.2 percent to 34,300 cars.

Sales in western Europe, the biggest market for Skoda Auto, dropped from 2011's 361,800 cars to 358,400 cars. Sales on its second biggest market - in Germany increased by 3.6 percent to 132,600 cars. A new record was reached in Great Britain where the company sold 53,200 cars with a 17.6 percent increase last year.

Sales in Central Europe rose by 0.7 percent to 124,000 cars and sales on the domestic market by 2.5 percent to 59,700 cars. Skoda Auto's share in the domestic market grew to 34.1 percent at the end of last year, Balaz said.

The car maker expects growth in particular in countries outside of Europe, said board member Werner Eichhorn.

New Skoda Octavia and other new models that the company will present in the coming twelve months are coming at the right time, he added.

Skoda Auto plans seven new or modernised models this year, Balaz said. Apart from the variants of third-generation Octavia, a version of Radid with a new car body and a modernised Superb and Yety are expected.

Skoda Auto expects the new Octavia to get among the ten top-selling cars in the world. This would require at least 500,000 cars sold annually.

Octavia is the top-selling model in the long term. Its sales grew by 5.8 percent to 409,600 units last year. The highest increase was by model Yeti - of 24.3 percent to 87,400 units.

The company also sold 24,700 cars of new model Rapid and 30,000 small cars Citigo. Sales of Fabia dropped by 9.9 percent and sales of Superb by 6.5 percent.

Skoda Auto continues its growth strategy whose aim is to produce 1.5 million cars annually by 2018.