European car sales analysis April 2014 – brands

After exploring the models ranking in April and year-to-date, lets dig a little deeper into the brands ranking and trends.

Renault-Nissan is again the big winner this month, mostly thanks to big increases of Dacia and Nissan. The French-Japanese manufacturer is followed by the Volkswagen Group, where Skoda is responsible for 10.000 of the 13.000 added sales compared to last year. And PSA Peugeot-Citroën has some good news as well, with both brands back on track to increase sales.

At Fiat-Chrysler automobiles, the Fiat brand managed its third consecutive month of year-on-year growth, thanks to the continued success of the 500 and 500L. But on a smaller scale, Maserati and Jeep were among the biggest winners of the month in percentage terms. Maserati of course on the back of the successful launch of the Ghibli and new generation Quattroporte, while at Jeep the Grand Cherokee almost doubled its sales on last year and the first new Cherokees were delivered to the dealers. Jeep may be on the verge of a winning streak, if the Cherokee becomes as successful as it is in North America. With the introduction of the smaller Renegade next year, the brand looks determined to break its 2007 record of over 45.500 sales in Europe. That would mean doubling its 2013 sales.

The resurrection of SsangYong after its bankruptcy has helped its new owner, Mahindra & Mahindra to the relatively biggest gain of all manufacturers behind Tesla. Also a special note for MG Nanjing, which is the fastest growing brand in Europe, despite being only available in the UK and Ireland, undoubtedly thanks to the introduction of the Chinese-built and UK-assembled subcompact MG3.

On the other end of the scale, we can see that Chevrolet has already starting its exit from the European market, with sales down 75% to a meager 3.129 units, wiping out the gains made by GM’s other brand Opel/Vauxhall. We also see Subaru has a particularly difficult month, with both the Forester and Legacy suffering in the market.

Year-to-date, the winners are the same as for the month of April, with the addition of Ford, still on a winning streak in Europe thanks to the Fiesta and the Kuga, but also because of the sell-out of the outgoing Mondeo, Galaxy and S-Max.

Mini, on the other hand, is waiting for the new generation of its core hatchback model, which has just reached showrooms and will help the brand rebound in the second half of 2014.

Brands ranking April

Brands ranking January – April