The number of cars registered for the first time rose by 2.7% to 72,835, whereas the number of vans surged by almost 5% to just 12,709, show statistics released by the Chamber of Commerce on Friday.

Volkswagen remains the top choice for Slovenian buyers and increased its market share by 1.3 points to 16.2%. It is trailed by Renault, whose market share rose by 0.3 points to 14.4%.

Skoda and Opel saw their market shares decline marginally to 9.4% and 6.3%, respectively.

Fiat in the fifth saw the biggest jump among all car makers, its market share almost doubling to 5.3%, whereas Slovenians seem to have lost their appetite for budget make Dacia, whose market share declined by 1.8 points to 3.5%.

Renault's Clio remains the most popular model and accounted for more than 5% of all car sales, followed by two Volkswagen models, the Golf and the Polo.

Electric and hybrid car sales rose at a much faster pace, with 2,161 cars sold compared to 1,502 in the year before. Their share of overall sales rose from 1.8% in 2017 to 2.5%.

Toyota reigns supreme in this segment, accounting for almost three in four electric or hybrid vehicles sold.