Finland Top 25 Passenger Car Models : 2008-10

The world was sailing like the Titanic into a disastrous financial situation. How would Finland fare during this time? 

In 2008, registrations were up 11% and close to record levels. Toyota was the leading brand with 18,600 units sold and Volkswagen was close behind at 16,500 sales. They were well ahead of the rest.

The VW Golf/Jetta was clearly the leading model with nearly 7,700 finding homes during the year. Toyota was not relying on one or a few models to do the donkey work with five making the top 25. 

Ford, Volvo and Škoda rounded out the top five brands. Volvo were doing particularly well with the small 3 door C30 Hatchback and Škoda the medium sized Octavia. The latter made up 70% of total Škoda registrations. 

So with the global economy in trouble. how would 2009 go for the Finnish car market? Registrations were down 35%. Painful but not as bad as some. Toyota gained share with sales only down 22%. VW had a slight gain in its share but lost ground to Toyota. 

Audi moved to sixth up place and Mercedes Benz ninth. Kia went the other way, falling sixth to fourteenth. Cee'd sales were down 60%. 

The Golf/Jetta combo stayed to with the Toyota Avensis up five placings to second. The Nissan Qashqai also improved with a minimal loss of sales. It was responsible for 60% of Nissan sales. the Octavia was a solid third ranked model.

For 2010, registrations rebounded 24%. They had been 137,700 in 2008, 89,100 a year later and now they were 110,500. 

Toyota's sales were up just 4.5% and VW closed the gap with its registrations up 26.5%. The Golf/Jetta improved by over 2,000 but the Avensis was down despite the overall upturn. 

One make did poorly and that was Honda, with sales down 18.5% and dropping from seventh to twelfth place. It has never returned to the top ten and is now a marginal presence in Finland. 

Data source: Autoalan Tiedotuskeskus & Traficom.

Photos: Netcarshow.