Hungary’s new car sales dropped dramatically in January-June compared to the same period in 2008 and the outlook for the second half of 2009 remains gloomy, business daily Vilaggazdasag said on Tuesday.
In the first half of the year 39,429 new cars were sold, down 52 percent from 81,995 in January-June last year. In the 3.5 tonne four wheel drive category the drop was even sharper, 55 percent, the paper said.
“This year is tragic,” the head of the Hungarian Association of Vehicle Importers (MGE) told the paper. Gabor Gyozo said that MGE expected new car sales to total around 80,000-85,000 over the next six months, as against 158,600 in the whole of last year and 177,000 in 2007.
He said it would have saved many dealers from going out of business if the government had introduced a subsidised incentive programme for new vehicle purchases. As a result 10,000-15,000 more vehicles could have been sold and with that budget revenues could have been increased.