A new survey by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) has revealed the most popular car brands in Switzerland. While each Swiss canton has their own idea of how much to spend on a set of four wheels, just three German international companies dominate the car market in the alpine nation.

Over 4 million motor vehicles now registered in Switzerland

According to the FSO, as of 2022, 4,721 million cars are registered in Switzerland - around 1 car for every 1,8 people. While this does mean that the alpine nation's car ownership figures are roughly in line with its neighbours, the number of cars owned varies dramatically by canton.

On one side of the spectrum, as they are the two most urban cantons, Geneva and Basel have the fewest autos per capita at 0,42 and 0,32 cars per person respectively. On the flip side, the more rural and affluent cantons have the most bought and leased cars, with Zug (0,73), Valais (0,64) and Jura (0,6) rounding out the podium places.

German car brands the most common in Switzerland

In terms of the most popular cars to own in Switzerland, one German brand stood above the rest with over 606.000 registrations: Volkswagen. The motoring giant from Wolfsburg was followed by the more premium German brands of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, with all three having between 311 and 340 thousand cars on Swiss roads and motorways as of 2022.

For those interested, the only mass-produced car to be designed in Switzerland, the Smart, came 29th with 31.592 registrations. Some of the more quirky brands on the list include Cadillac (48th, 3.514), Willys (52nd, 2.599), Oldsmobile (74th, 493), Hummer (80th, 357), Lada (81st, 354) and Trabant (96th, 129). The rarest car brand to find in Switzerland is the Chrysler-Simica 180 - only 10 are registered in the entire country!

In terms of Swiss cantons, Volkswagen took the top spot in all 26. Things differed when it came to second place, with Mercedes-Benz being runner-up in 8 cantons, BMW in 7, Skoda in 5 and Audi in 2. 

10 most popular car brands in Switzerland

In all, here are the 10 most popular car brands in Switzerland as of 2022:

1. Volkswagen (606.768)
2. Mercedes-Benz (340.201)
3. BMW (334.404)
4. Audi (311.276)
5. Skoda (251.207)
6. Toyota (224.711)
7. Opel (203.080)
8. Ford (202.250)
9. Renault (188.612)
10. Peugeot (165.046)

For more information, check out the official study (in French).

Thumb image: Shutterstock.com / VanderWolf Images