In September 70 358 used cars were imported to Poland, up by 3,98% on a monthly basis and down by 25.72% year by year. From January to September 524 381 units were imported, which is nearly 40% (or 39.77% to be exact) less than a year ago. It seems now clear that after a sharp decline in car import in the first half, with figures down by as much as 50%, the oslump has finally bottomed up and is beginning to increase. However, this growth is too slow to compensate for losses incurred during the first and second quarter of the year. In line with our previous forecasts, i
mport of used cars is likely to total at around 680-700k vehicles from and outside EU. In last year alone a record number of more than 1,1 million cars were imported.
All customs offices, where excise duty is paid, have recorded a steep decline in imported cars. Just like in previous months the largest number of cars were declared in Poznań (11 103 units), Warsaw (7 668 units) and Katowice (6 839 units). The fewest number of cars declared were recorded in Opole (1 869 units) and Białystok (1 770 units).
State budget has earned 53 880 338 PLN in September from excise duty paid with an average tax fee of 765.8 PLN per car. Since January the state has earned 388,1 million PLN from excise duty. This figure does not take into account that some of the money had to be returned. Untill end of September 143 million PLN of excise duty taken in the years 2004-2006, which later on turned out to be against EU law, has been given back. This figure is likely to increase as several cases are now being processed from years 2005-2006.
Age structure of cars imported in September has improved slightly over August, but deteriorated over the year. In September cars up to 4 years old accounted for 12.86% of total import, which is up by 1 pp over August, but 2 pp less than in September 2008. At that time however a more favorable exchange duty with EUR/PLN below 3.5 mark (and US dollar between 2.1-2.2 PLN in case of American cars) made it more profitable to import newer cars. In comparison this year September EUR/PLN exchange rate was between 4.08-4.26.
There was a further decline in import of cars older than 10 years. In September such cars made up only 38.4% of total import, whereas in August this figure was 39.5%. This is due to scrappage schemes introduced in some EU countries and their effect on the aftermarket. Although government incentives ended up in September in the case of Germany, Italy, France and recently Spain have decided to extend their schemes in 2010. There is also a shortage of used cars above 10 years old in the case of Great Britain.
When it comes to top 15 brands there are no major changes compared to August. The most popular is Volkswagen (19.61% market share) ahead of Opel (12.74%). With a result of 6 299 units Renault managed to clinch 3rd place, surpassing Ford (5 950 units).
French brands are the least affected by decline in import when compared to other producers. In addition Citroen had the only positive result with 1 796 units, an increase of 7.67% over the year.
