A total of 6,212 new cars were sold in Croatia in July, which is 8.2% or 474 more cars than in July 2018, while in the first seven months of this year 44,368 new cars were sold, only 0.9% more than in the same period of 2018, the Promocija Plus agency reported.

The most sought-after brand so far this year has been Volkswagen, with 5,440 units sold, followed by Opel (4,519 vehicles sold), Renault (4,309 units sold), Skoda (4,014) and Dacia (2,789).

Also sold in the January-July period were 68 new Porsches, 1,130 Audis, 987 BMWs and 863 Mercedeses.

The best-selling car models so far have been the Skoda Octavia (2,300 units sold), the Renault Clio (1,924), the Volkswagen Golf (1,399), the Opel Corsa (1,273), and the Suzuki Vitara (1,267).

The Skoda Octavia was the most popular model also in July, with 460 vehicles sold, ahead of the Opel Corsa (240) and the VW Golf (226).

A total of 27,045 vehicles sold in the first seven months, or 61%, were powered by petrol, 15,757 or 35.5% were powered by diesel, 1,056 were hybrids and 87 were electric vehicles.