The market for 4x4 vehicles, including SUVs, off-roaders, pick-ups and car-derived 4x4s, in Poland has jumped by 70 pct year-on-year with Fiat Auto Poland taking a big slice of the booming segment.

Poland's January-to-October new-car sales figures clearly show that customer demand for 4x4 vehicles, including SUVs, off-roaders, pick-ups and car-derived 4x4s, is on the increase, sales jumping by 70% from last year to reach 21,132 after ten months of this year. The tally represents approximately 9% of the country's new-car business overall; and the biggest domestic car producer, Fiat, was right in the hunt for the growing number of customers demanding four-wheel-drive cars, taking the fourth biggest slice of a fast-growing cake.

Poland's top-selling four wheel drive brands (Jan to Oct) were: 1st Toyota: 3,245 (+45%); 2nd Suzuki: 3,212 (+90%); 3rd Honda:  1,755 (+256.7%); 4th Fiat: 1,527 (+125%); 5th Audi: 1,373 (+70%); 6th Nissan: 1,303 (+69%); 7th Subaru: 1,286 (+27%); 8th Mitsubishi: 1,057 (+147%); 9th BMW: 804 (+112%); and Mercedes-Benz: 708 (+82%).

A breakdown of Fiat's Polish four wheel drive sales sees them split almost evenly between two models: the first is the tiny Panda 4x4, which is built locally at the Tychy factory. The larger imported Sedici first arrived on the Polish market last December (when 10 units were sold) and it has gathered sales strength right from the beginning of this year. Poland's top-selling 4x4 models (Jan to Oct) were: 1st Toyota RAV4: 2,785 (+50%); 2nd Suzuki Grand Vitara: 1,817 (+46%); 3rd Honda CR-V: 1,577 (+283%); 4th Mitsubishi Outlander: 823 (+258%); 5th Fiat Panda 4x4: 791 (+678%); 6th Suzuki SX4: 742; 6th Fiat Sedici: 736; 7th Subaru Forester: 704 (+29%); 8th Nissan X-Trail: 614 (+62%); and 10th Audi A6 Quattro: 489 (+44%).

Typically, 4x4 drivetrain is widely available across the SUV segment, with 99.7% of new vehicles' Polish customers ordering their vehicle with this particular feature. By way of comparison, 21% of coupé- segment cars are being ordered with four wheel drive. Interestingly though, the figure has also risen significantly, up from last year's level of 13%. Ranked third overall in terms of 4x4 segment penetration, the brand-new MPV and mini-MPVs have a 5.4% rate combined, followed by saloons and convertibles with 4.5%.

information: Samar