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Škoda Auto and Zetor sales thrive in Norway

(This article expired 17.11.2013 / 01:00.)

Škoda represents the eighth best-selling brand in Norwegian passenger car market. Zetor holds the ninth position among tractors producers.

Škoda, despite a slight drop in sales in 2012, holds the eighth place in the top 10 selling brands in Norway with 4.9% share of the market. A slight decrease in 2012 is due to the unprecedented increase in the years 2010 and 2011. For a short period of time Škoda represented the sixth best-selling car in the country. In 2009, Skoda sold 4,206 vehicles in Norway (4.3% market share), in 2010 the figure was 6,755 (5.3% market share) and in 2011 sales peaked with 7620 sold vehicles (5.5% market share). Best-selling cars in 2012 in Norway are Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford and Volvo. These 4 auto-makers control 45-50% of the market.

From this year's 5,738 Škoda vehicles sold so far the most successful model is clearly Octavia (2400 vehicles, 41.8%), followed by Superb (1142 vehicles, 19.9%), Yeti (996 vehicles, 17.4%), Fabia (855 vehicles, 14.9%), Roomster (187 vehicles, 3.3%) and the new model Citigo (158 vehicles, 2.8%). The Škoda Octavia is historically the best-selling Škoda vehicle in Norway.

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Agroteknikk is arguably one of the largest fairs of agricultural machinery in Scandinavia. It takes place every three years and it is organized by the Norwegian Association of Importers of Tractors and Agricultural Equipment.

Zetor with 76 tractors sold (2,6% market share) represents the ninth best-selling model in the Norwegian market. The year 2012 will probably be one of the weaker years, however, thanks to cheap Proxima 70 model the sale prospects are positive (there were 16 Zetors sold in October only). The HC Petersen plan for 2013 is to sell at about 140 tractors. Almost 70% of the market is controlled by the so-called Big Four - John Deere, Massey-Ferguson, New Holland and Valtra.

Zetor has a long tradition in the Norwegian market. First Zetor tractors were imported to Norway already in the 1960´s but the real breakthrough was in 1980 when PZO Motokov sold 523 tractors. With its low price and fairly good quality Zetor became an instant hit. In the 1980´s Zetor sales broke all the records with up to 1550 machines sold annually. Zetor controlled 18% of the market and represented clear number two in the local market. However, there was a steep decline in the 1990´s related to the collapse of the exclusive importer PZO Motokov. In 1990 there were 502 tractors sold, while ten years later in 2000 it was only 20 pieces. Sad state of decline culminated in 2000 when Zetor basically stopped the production, which was restored only after 2001 with the takeover by the new owner. In 2003, HC Petersen Norge AS became the exclusive importer of Zetor to Norway and since then Zetor has been gradually returning into the Norwegian market. To recover the lost positions is extremely difficult, though. Currently Zetor has roughly 4% market share (2009 - 109 tractors sold- 4.14% market share, 2010 - 131 - 4.05%, 2011 - 144 - 3.76%). HC Petersen Norge believes in the success of Maxterra model which Zetor should introduce in 2014 and mainly in the success of low-cost model Proxima 70. Also new snow-plowing equipment and components should help to increase the sales as it opens a new market segment – road maintanance. In Norway, Zetor focused so far on the standard equipment for agricultural use and on special forestry equipment.

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Zetor exhibition at the HC Petersen stand during Agroteknikk 2012 Fair (foto: Jan Buben)