The car market makes a U-turn

Sales of new cars in Poland in October amounted to 20,925 units, which represented a 33-percent rise year-on-year and a nine-percent increase in comparison to September.

This is the first time since April 2004 that the monthly result was higher than in the corresponding month of the previous year. Moreover, sales growth over the last two months has helped sales for the first 10 months of 2006 to nearly equal the figure from the corresponding period last year. By the end of October, 196,251 new cars were sold in Poland - just 1.7 percent less than in the first 10 months of 2005.

The president of Automotive Market Research Institute Samar, Wojciech Drzewiecki, claims that October's result wasn't surprising, as last year's results were especially weak because of VAT changes. However, he believes the industry can shift the sinking sales figures into reverse. "We hope that the market will bounce back next year and we will see a slight growth," Drzewiecki says. He expects a wave of car exchange in Poland, as there hasn't been a big one in seven years. "These cars will go to the second-hand market, and new ones will have to be bought," he says.

Toyota is still the market leader in Poland with 23,970 cars sold in the first 10 months of the year and a 12.2-percent market share. Skoda follows just behind with 23,274 units and 11.9 percent of the pie, while Fiat lies in third place with 20,229 cars sold and 10.3 percent of the market.

On December 1, a new excise tax on cars will be introduced, which will set two tax rates for cars in Poland regardless of their age and country of origin. An excise of 3.1 percent will be paid for cars with an engine capacity of below 2,000 cc, while owners of passenger cars with engines larger than 2,000 cc will have to pay a 13.6-percent excise rate.