Estonian new car sales hit year's record in May

Photo: Tairo Lutter / Virumaa Teataja

The number of new cars sold in Estonia during May was bigger than in any other month so far this year, although no major leap took place compared with April, the association of Estonian car dealers and service companies AMTEL said.

The number of new cars sold during the month was 1,997.

The number of new cars sold during the first five months of the year was 8 percent bigger than in the same period in 2012, AMTEL said.

The top three carmakers by new cars sales in Estonia were exactly the same as in April, with Toyota as the number one with 285 units sold, Honda second with 183 and Volkswagen third with 178 units.

In a breakdown by model, Honda took places 1 and 2 with 86 units of CR-V and 76 units of Civic sold during the month. Toyota Avensis was in a ie for second place with also 76 units sold.

In utility vehicles PSA group was the overwhelming leader with 66 units of Peugeot and 60 units of Citroen sold.

Mercedes was number three largely on the back of truck sales with 42 utility vehicles sold. In trucks Volvo came first with 31 units, ahead of Mercedes which sold 19 units and Scania which sold 18. In all 361 brand new utility vehicles were sold during May.

AMTEL pointed out in its comments to the figures that with a year-over-year growth rate of 20 percent in May the sale of utility vehicles is growing visibly faster than of passenger cars, suggesting that in this segment recovery from the crisis is happening faster.