As many as 57 Porsches and 51 Jaguars were sold last year.
Last year, 50,769 new personal cars were sold in Croatia, which was 15.1 percent more than a year earlier, when 44,106 vehicles were sold. However, in December, just 2,145 new cars were sold, which was as much as 38.2 percent less than in December 2016, reports Nacional on January 5, 2018.
Last year, the largest number of new vehicles in Croatia was sold by Volkswagen (7,116; 14%). Škoda, which is a member of the same group, was ranked second (4,722; 9.3%), followed by Opel (4,652; 9.2%), Renault (4,587; 9%) and Ford (3,579; 7%).
Among German premium car producers, Audi sold 1,819 new cars in Croatia last year, BMW 1,326, and Mercedes just five vehicles fewer. Last year, 57 Porsches, 51 Jaguars, 29 Infinitis, 7 Lexus and 4 Teslas were sold as well.
The most popular models last year were the Škoda Octavia (2,446), Renault Clio (2,292), Ford Focus (2,271), VW Golf (2,074) and Opel Astra (1,741).
Despite the scandals by some diesel car producers, such vehicles were still the most popular. As many as 27,831 diesel cars were sold last year, with a share of 54.8 percent. At the same time, 502 hybrids were bought, while the percentage of fully electric vehicles remained miserable – just 22 such cars were sold in the whole of 2017.
In December, VW sold most vehicles (308), followed by Ford (234), Renault (198), and Suzuki (196). Potential buyers have apparently decided to wait for January since companies can now again deduct 50 percent of the value-added tax for their official cars and their maintenance, which should be beneficial for entrepreneurs.
According to the announcements by Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, additional changes in taxation of the purchase of new and used vehicles can be expected. Taxes based on the value of cars will be abolished entirely for cars whose sales price with the VAT is under 150,000 kuna, and this represents 65 percent of all new vehicles sold. More emphasis will be put on CO2 emissions as a taxation criterion. It is expected that the tax cut will lower the annual tax burden by some 350 million kuna. Marić says the goal is to increase traffic safety and protect the environment.
In best years, the number of vehicles sold approached 100,000, which shows that there is a long way to go for the Croatian economy to reach its pre-crisis levels.
Translated from Nacional.
