In the first seven months of 2018, almost 44,000 new passenger cars were sold in Croatia, which is a whopping 21.2 percent increase compared to the same period in 2017, the Promocija Plus market research company said on Wednesday.

In July alone, more than 5,700 cars were sold in the country, up 39.1 percent year-on-year.

The best selling brand over the first seven months of the year was Volkswagen, with 6,540 cars sold and a 14.8 percent market share. Renault came in second with 4,369 cars sold, and a 9.9 percent market share, while Opel was third with 4,321 cars sold and a 9.8 percent market share.

By model, mid-sized Skoda Octavia was the year’s best selling model through July, with 2,262 cars sold, followed by smaller models Renault Clio with 2,201 and Volkswagen Polo, with 1,639 cars sold.

In terms of fuel technology, fossil fuelled vehicles still dominate the market, with nearly 24,800 petrol cars were sold, or 56.3 percent of all sales, in addition to 18,246 diesel cars – accounting for 41.5 percent of the market. Only 505 hybrids were sold in the period and 22 electric cars were sold in the same period, accounting for 1.2 percent of the market share.

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