Reuters reported that Czech car sales fell almost 14% YoY in the first 9 months of 2009, from a 12% fall in the first half.

Czech's Car Importers Association said that new car registrations dropped by 13.8% in January through September to 133,577 vehicles as the worst recession in over a decade dented consumer demand and pushed companies to cut back or put off new purchases. Light utility vehicles, which until March this year had included modified corporate cars under this classification due to tax benefits, fell by 65.6% to 15,829 in that period.

Mr Pavel Tunkl secretary of the association said that "The third quarter is always a period of some rest among buyers, so when the overall numbers are negative, even a few percentage points drop deepens the loss significantly."

The association said it saw no rebound in the coming quarters, with stagnating sales expected next year. Among passenger cars, Volkswagen's Skoda Auto kept its grip on market share, but saw it slip to 27.6% from 31.1% in the same period a year ago. Ford and VW were the other top selling brands.

It may be noted that the Czech economy fell by a record 5.5% in the second quarter, although it escaped from recession with a 0.1% QoQ rise. However, companies have struggled to win back lost orders and have cut jobs, which has sent the unemployment rate to an over three year high of 8.5%. Analysts expect this to rise more in 2010.

(Sourced from www.reuters.com)