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There's an old joke which says that an alien landing on earth would probably assume that cars are the most populous species on the planet. In Slovenia at least this does not hold - one million personal automobiles can be found on the road meaning that people still outnumber cars by 35 percent. But it does mean there is about one car per 1.5 potential drivers. Include all the other registered vehicles - from motorbikes to trucks to tractors - and the ratio nearly approaches one-to-one. The ratio is not extreme, but good enough to be amongst Europe's top half.

Sales

There are obviously a few different kinds of car owners: those who buy a new car and stick with it as long as it works; those who buy a new car and in a few years replace it hoping their former vehicle will retain much of its original price; and those who come after those cars, considering used vehicles a better deal.

The best-selling brand in Slovenia is Renault - perhaps little surprise as the company has a massive Slovenian presence through its Revoz factory. The firm reports 2004 as its most successful year in terms of sales and 2009 as its worst. As for how those sales are completed? Seventy percent of sales are in direct payment, the rest are leased.

When it comes to A-Cosmos, a supplier of prestigious brands like BMW and Mazda, the mix is very different. Roughly 60 per cent of their wheels, regardless of model, are leased and one in three customers bring in their used cars to trade for a new one. Similar rules apply at Porsche Slovenia, which also deals Audi and Volkswagen - around half of upmarket cars are leased, while the more affordable cars are mostly sold for cash.

On the second hand

Not all buyers head to a car showroom to find their new vehicle, however. The leading Slovenian web portal avto.net is a huge sales point with, at the moment, over 85,000 active listings for used cars. Half are listings from individual owners, the rest from authorised sellers offering both new and used vehicles.

There is a huge variety on the site, from barely used models to old timers. The most populated price group is vehicles of around EUR 3,000. In terms of mileage, most fall in the category of between 150,000 and 200,000 kilometres on the clock.

It is tough to tell quite how many of the listed cars are real bargains and how many wind up being scrapped if not sold. Bojan Matko, project manager at avto.net, says that when it comes to pricing of second hand vehicles, German makes with diesel motors still hold as the most valuable items in this market. But on the other hand, there are so many of these cars are on offer that prices can be dragged down.

In the past years, the second hand trade has become much more internationalised. There are no concrete statistics yet available but it seems like the higher the standard in a certain country, the quicker cars lose value there. After joining the European Union, an array of opportunities came from traders who import used cars in Italy and Germany to sell them to Slovenian buyers. Needless to say, many used cars also roam from Slovenia further down south where some unattractive models still find a good use.

It is clear, then, that for individual buyers the Slovenian car market is still lively and active. As Matko puts it: "The desire to buy a car remains one of the top priorities for an average Slovenian family."