ZAGREB, 5 March, 2021 - A total of 3,439 new passenger cars were sold in Croatia in February 2021, 4.2% fewer than in the same month in 2020, according to the data released by the Promocija Plus market research agency on Friday.

In January 2021, 2,915 new cars were sold, a decrease of 19.7% compared with January 2020. The January drop affected cumulative data for the first two months of 2021, when a total of 6,345 vehicles were sold, or 12.95% fewer than in January-February 2020.

In the first two months of this year the best-selling car make was Volkswagen, with 1,187 units sold and a market share of 18.68%. The only other carmaker with a market share exceeding 10% was Škoda, with 823 cars sold in the January-February period and a market share of 12.95%.

Fiat was third with 482 cars sold, followed by Dacia and Hyundai, with 328 units sold each, and Renault with 327 vehicles sold.

In February alone, the most sought-after car model was the Škoda Octavia, with 227 units sold, ahead of the Fiat Panda (215), the VW T-Roc (150), the Dacia Duster (138) and the Hyundai Tucson (126).

In January and February, 3,271 petrol cars were sold, accounting for 51.5% of total sales, while diesel vehicles accounted for 31.3% with 1,986 units sold. Also sold were 830 hybrid cars (13.1%), 193 vehicles powered by natural gas (3%) and 74 electric cars (1.2%).

Croatian employers are not the only ones who are desperately looking for Croatian workers. There are more and more foreign businesses coming to Croatia in search of possible employees. One of them is the well-known car factory Škoda from the Czech Republic, reports Radio Mrežnica on November 20, 2018.

Škoda is looking for workers, and this week the company decided to focus on Croatia. In four towns, Osijek, Sisak, Karlovac and Zagreb, representatives of the company will meet and talk with interested Croatian workers who are thinking about possibly moving to this Central European country, which is in economic terms far more developed in Croatia. While during the “dark days of socialism” then Yugoslavia seemed like a heaven to other Central and Eastern European countries, in the last 30 years everything changed. Now, Croats and citizens of other former Yugoslav republics are looking with envy at the living standards in countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

The ad that the Czech company published over the local Radio Mrežnica draw a huge amount of interest from listeners and the Czech representatives in Croatia were happy to provide more details. “ManpowerGroup" Czech Republic is looking for potential employees for Škoda Auto, in the town of Mlada Boleslav. Potential employees can earn up to 1,000 euro, in addition to accommodation and travel costs, which will be covered separately. They will also have a coordinator during their stay in the Czech Republic. ManpowerGroup will take care of them,” said the company representatives.

The interviews about possible employment at Škoda will take place in Osijek on Tuesday, in Sisak on Wednesday, in Karlovac on Thursday, and in Zagreb on Friday.

Škoda Auto, better known only as Škoda, is a Czech car manufacturer which was founded in 1895 as Laurin&Klement. It is located in the town of Mlada Boleslav.

According to the latest numbers, Croatia's population is significantly decreasing, with a trend of fewer births and more deaths, and there has never been a greater wave of emigration. Compared to 2008 when the population amounted to 4.3 million, ten years later, at the end of 2017, that number had decreased by 204,300 people and Croatia's population then was 4.1 million.

Since Croatia joined the EU in 2013, the number of immigrants has varied between 10,400 in 2013 and 15,600 in 2017. However, the number of people emigrating has increased noticeably more. Even though there was a growing trend in the period between 2011 and 2013, that number has increased significantly since accession.

In 2014, the number of emigrants was 20,900 which was an increase of 36.7% compared to 2013. In mid-2015, most EU member states lifted restrictions on Croatian workers and the number of emigrants increased by almost 10,000 that year. In 2016, that number continued to grow and in 2017 was a record high of 47,400, most of them emigrating to Germany.

For more on the emigration situation in Croatia, click here.

Volkswagen, Opel and Škoda take the lead

From January to October of this year, a total of 37,805 new vehicles were sold, which is 20.7 percent more than in the same period last year.