According to data from the Polish Automotive Industry Association, in February 2024 in Poland, 45,973 new passenger cars and 5,198 new delivery vehicles with a permissible total weight up to 3.5 tons were sold. This represents a huge increase (of 18.1%) compared to February 2023. Both markets contributed to this growth – passenger car sales increased by 19.3%, and delivery vehicles by 8.6%. Data from Superauto.pl also show that as sales increase, prices are falling.
Key Points:
- The new car market in Poland is growing. In February both passenger car and delivery vehicle segments recorded year-on-year sales growth.
- Petrol cars remain the most popular, but the share of both full hybrids (HEV) and so-called mild hybrids (MHEV) is growing rapidly. Diesels, however, are clearly in decline.
- In the new passenger car market, Toyota still dominates. The most new delivery vehicles up to a GWV of 3.5 tons, however, are sold by Renault which, in February, had no clear advantage.
- Data from Superauto.pl clearly show that along with rising sales there is also a drop in prices. Compared to February 2023, prices have fallen in all three segments.
Among passenger cars, petrol ones still sell best (36.9% market share in 2024). However, compared to last year, they have lost as much as 7.1 percentage points in market share. This is quite a lot considering the period of twelve months. However, sales of almost all types of drives have increased. Almost, because the unfortunate exception is Diesel engines – their sales have decreased by 0.9% compared to the previous year.
After petrol cars, full hybrids (HEV) have the largest share – 24.6% of the market (+3 percentage points share of the market year over year) and mild hybrids (MHEV) – 22.8% of the market (+5.3 percentage points year over year). The remaining types of drives have a much smaller market share. These are Diesels – 7.2% (-1.6 percentage points year over year), electric cars – 2.8% (-0.2 percentage points year over year), plug-in hybrids – 2.7% (+0.2 percentage points) and LPG cars – 3% (+0.4 percentage points). Hydrogen cars still represent a negligible percentage of the market – only one such model was sold in Poland in January and February.
One notable fact is that Toyota had another incredible month in February. The Japanese producer sold 9,782 vehicles, accounting for 21.28% of the market. Skoda is slowly closing in on Toyota, crossing the five thousand sold cars mark. Selling 5,180 vehicles was a great result for the Czech brand, which allowed for securing 11.27% of the market.
If we look at the TOP 20 market share increase, a few brands stand out. February stars were Nissan and Cupra, which increased their sales by over 100 percent – 119.1% and 112.1% respectively. Volvo can also boast an unexpectedly good result, having “grown” by 46.5%. When it comes to high-end brands, February’s competition was incredibly fierce, but in the end, Mercedes was the best, increasing sales compared to February 2023 by a whopping 77%.
In the case of models, the top 5 vehicles were dominated by Toyota – Corolla, Yaris Cross and C-HR occupied first, second, and fourth places respectively. Rounding up the top five were Skoda Octavia (ranked third) and Kia Sportage (fifth).
On the Superauto.pl car sales platform, the most popular brands in February were: Skoda among mass-market brands (21% share in sales) and Mercedes among premium brands (33% share in sales). The average value of a new car fell slightly compared to February 2023, amounting to PLN 144,159 gross for a mass-market brand car (-3% year over year) and PLN 298,246 for a premium brand car (-4% year over year).
On the delivery vehicles market up to a permissible total weight of 3.5 tons, Renault was the best in February, although the advantage of the French brand was not as clear as usual. It sold 963 vehicles, and Fiat, which is second in the ranking, sold only marginally less – 859. Ford rounded out the podium. The biggest year-on-year sales increase from the TOP 10 can be attributed to Fiat (+45.1%), Volkswagen (+33.1%) and Toyota (+32.2%).
With the models, Renault Master was the best again, selling 676 units, but its lead over Fiat Ducato (636) was small. The top five were completed by Iveco Daily, Mercedes Sprinter and Ford Transit. The sensation of the month was Toyota Hilux which, having sold 238 units, found itself in 6th place.
On the Superauto.pl car sales platform, the situation was different than in the entire market. Ford had the largest sales, 21%, followed by Opel with 20% and Renault with 19%. The average value of a new car amounted to PLN 131,800 net and was significantly lower than a year earlier (-9%).
Leasing remains the most popular financing form for cars on Superauto.pl (75% share in sales in February). They, however, have lost some popularity in favor of credit (17%). Importantly, in February, as many as 95% of operational lease applications were approved, and a positive decision for car financing was made on the day of application in half of cases.
Kamil Makula, CEO of Superauto.pl, commented: “At Superauto.pl we aim for continuous improvement of our services, which directly translates into the satisfaction of our customers. One of the key elements of this strategy is significantly shortening the waiting time for financial decisions. Therefore, 50% of applications made with us are processed on the same day. This shows that we are not only following trends in the automotive market, but also setting new standards in customer service.”
