Skoda sells record 72,600 cars in July

PRAGUE -- Czech car maker Skoda Auto sold 72,600 cars in July, up 6 percent from the same period last year, the company said in Prague on Thursday.

July's best-selling car model was Octavia, with 32,800 units was sold, up 7.3 percent from a year ago, Skoda Auto said in a statement. Sales of the Yeti model jumped by 23.8 percent to 6,500 units, while sales of Fabias and Superbs decreased by 19.3 percent and 6.3 percent respectively.

Except for western Europe, all markets posted growth in the number of cars sold in July.

Sales in China increased by 6.6 percent to over 19,000 units, whereas sales was raised by 26.8 percent to 11,400 units in the East European markets. Sales in India also increased by 22.6 percent to 2,800 units.

Skoda Auto supplied some 25,300 cars to Western Europe in July, 7.1 percent fewer than last year. Despite the overall fall, supplies to the Great Britain grew by 20 percent in July.

In the first seven months of 2012, Skoda sold 565,600 units in total, about 8.1 percent higher than the same period of last year.

Skoda plans to sell 1.5 million cars annually by 2018.