European car sales analysis April 2015 – brands

In the first quarter of 2015, the year-over-year growth of the car market accelerated every month, but that streak ended in April, when car sales increased “just” 6,5% to 1,2 million units, taking the year-to-date improvement to 7,85% and 4.822.477 units. Still, it’s the 20th straight month of improvement, although the climb is much less steep than in the US, where the car market has already recovered to pre-crisis levels. All major markets contributed to the expansion, with huge differences between markets, as Italy grew explosively at +24,2% but France up a mere 2,3%.

Renault-Nissan continues its stellar performance, adding the most volume in April and also passing Volkswagen Group to become the biggest gaining manufacturer year-to-date. FCA also improved greatly, thanks to the expansion of its home market Italy, but also thanks to overall excellent results for Fiat (thanks to the 500X) and especially Jeep, while the Alfa Romeo and Lancia brands continued to lose volume.

The fastest growing manufacturers are the ones with a low volume base, like DRB-Hicom thanks to the resurrection of Lotus, followed by Tesla Motors and surprisingly Lada, which has recently resumed sales in the Czech Republic and Hungary.

The only two manufacturers to lose volume are Toyota (-2,4%) and Honda, down a whopping 24,6% as the brands appears to have lost interest in the European car market, keeping customers waiting for the new generation Jazz for almost two years after it was launched in other markets. But the Jazz isn’t the brand’s only model to lose sales, as all Honda models are down.

Brands-wise, Renault adds the most volume, followed by VW and Fiat, while Jeep, Lotus and Lamborghini are the fastest growing brands. Renault is closing in on Ford to become Europe’s #2 brand, with less than 1.000 units between them this month. It won’t be a surprise to see Chevrolet still carrying the red flag as the biggest loser, and Honda and DS are no newcomers to the right side of the table either. However, looking at relative improvement/loss, Chevrolet isn’t the worst off as sales of Great Wall cars in Bulgaria appear to have come to a virtual halt as well.

April winners and losers

 

Manufacturer biggest volume increase	Renault-Nissan	18.865		Manufacturer biggest volume lost	Honda	-2.466
	Volkswagen Group	16.650			Toyota Motor	-1.119
	FCA	9.168
Manufacturer biggest % increase	DRB-Hicom (Proton / Lotus)	153,7%		Manufacturer biggest % lost	Honda	-24,6%
	Tesla Motors	87,0%			Toyota Motor	-2,4%
	AvtoVAZ (Lada)	78,9%
Brand biggest volume increase	Renault	11.851		Brand biggest volume lost	Chevrolet	-2.926
	Volkswagen	8.476			Honda	-2.466
	Fiat	5.069			DS	-1.557
Brand biggest % increase	Jeep	173,7%		Brand biggest % lost	Great Wall	-95,6%
	Lotus	153,7%			Chevrolet	-93,5%
	Lamborghini	130,4%			Tata	-28,6%

Jan – April 2015 sales

Year-to-date, Volkswagen Group is no longer the biggest gaining manufacturer, as Renault-Nissan has overtaken them thanks to a blockbuster month of April. Daimler AG holds on to the third place, but FCA and BMW AG are not far behind. Lotus is pushing DRB-Hicom sales, as Proton hasn’t sold a single unit in 2015. The growth curve of Mitsubishi Motors is slowing down, while SAIC MG actually adds to its relative gain.

General Motors is still suffering from the withdrawal of Chevrolet, which is only partially offset by an improvement at Opel, which is kicked back down into fourth place in the brand ranking by Renault, after it traditionally enjoyed a great month of March thanks to the strong UK market.

Nissan is also back behind Toyota after its similar great performance in March, but Nissan is creeping ever-so-close to its main Japanese rival and still has a significant lead year-to-date. It might reach its goal to become Europe’s best selling Japanese car maker if this trend continues. In another Japanese battle, Mitsubishi has a shot at finishing the year ahead of Honda for the first time ever. The only time it came close was in 2000 when less than 1.500 units separated the two brands.

Jan – April winners and losers

 

Manufacturer biggest volume increase	Renault-Nissan	82.677		Manufacturer biggest volume lost	General Motors	-10.038
	Volkswagen Group	81.430			Honda	-4.212
	Daimler AG	34.098			Suzuki	-538
Manufacturer biggest % increase	DRB-Hicom (Proton / Lotus)	96,0%		Manufacturer biggest % lost	Honda	-8,4%
	Mitsubishi Motors	58,0%			General Motors	-3,1%
	SAIC MG	52,3%			Aston Martin	-2,8%
Brand biggest volume increase	Volkswagen	46.208		Brand biggest volume lost	Chevrolet	-28.500
	Renault	38.694			DS	-5.474
	Nissan	36.419			Honda	-4.212
Brand biggest % increase	Jeep	195,0%		Brand biggest % lost	Chevrolet	-97,0%
	Lamborghini	112,8%			Great Wall	-77,3%
	Lotus	97,3%			Tata	-51,1%

April brand ranking

 

	Brand	April 2015	April 2014	change
1	Volkswagen	153.489	145.013	5,8%
2	Ford	87.925	85.837	2,4%
3	Renault	86.987	75.136	15,8%
4	Opel/Vauxhall	76.211	72.469	5,2%
5	Peugeot	73.457	69.619	5,5%
6	Audi	69.863	67.377	3,7%
7	BMW	60.679	55.989	8,4%
8	Mercedes-Benz	59.013	57.614	2,4%
9	Fiat	58.991	53.922	9,4%
10	Skoda	54.819	50.128	9,4%
11	Citroën	47.608	47.192	0,9%
12	Toyota	43.236	44.008	-1,8%
13	Nissan	40.738	38.104	6,9%
14	Hyundai	37.824	34.907	8,4%
15	Dacia	37.538	33.496	12,1%
16	Kia	32.323	30.435	6,2%
17	Seat	29.204	29.418	-0,7%
18	Volvo	23.098	20.693	11,6%
19	Mini	14.720	11.035	33,4%
20	Suzuki	14.171	13.595	4,2%
21	Mazda	13.271	12.178	9,0%
22	Land Rover	12.115	10.291	17,7%
23	Mitsubishi	10.978	8.551	28,4%
24	Smart	8.850	5.691	55,5%
25	Honda	7.573	10.039	-24,6%
26	Jeep	7.129	2.605	173,7%
27	Porsche	6.953	5.793	20,0%
28	DS	6.851	8.408	-18,5%
29	Lancia-Chrysler	6.129	6.191	-1,0%
30	Alfa Romeo	4.916	5.370	-8,5%
31	Subaru	3.484	3.132	11,2%
32	Jaguar	2.097	2.174	-3,5%
33	Lexus	1.884	2.231	-15,6%
34	SSangYong	994	631	57,5%
35	Tesla	733	392	87,0%
36	Maserati	661	554	19,3%
37	Infiniti	657	319	106,0%
38	Ferrari	337	337	0,0%
39	SAIC MG	308	221	39,4%
40	Lada	204	114	78,9%
41	Chevrolet	203	3.129	-93,5%
42	Bentley	202	210	-3,8%
43	Aston Martin	159	128	24,2%
44	Lamborghini	106	46	130,4%
45	Lotus	104	41	153,7%
46	Rolls Royce	73	71	2,8%
47	Chevrolet USA	53	136	-61,0%
48	Dodge	47	62	-24,2%
49	Mahindra	44	37	18,9%
50	Cadillac	36	32	12,5%
51	Tata	30	42	-28,6%
52	DR	23	21	9,5%
53	Great Wall	2	45	-95,6%

Jan – April brand ranking

 

	Brand	Jan-Apr 2015	Jan-Apr 2014	change
1	Volkswagen	587.278	541.070	8,5%
2	Ford	359.224	339.648	5,8%
3	Renault	329.120	290.426	13,3%
4	Opel/Vauxhall	316.852	297.991	6,3%
5	Peugeot	294.830	277.686	6,2%
6	Audi	261.330	253.878	2,9%
7	BMW	242.295	225.528	7,4%
8	Mercedes-Benz	239.478	215.876	10,9%
9	Fiat	228.979	210.819	8,6%
10	Nissan	204.824	168.405	21,6%
11	Skoda	204.464	194.826	4,9%
12	Toyota	197.603	188.694	4,7%
13	Citroën	190.258	186.377	2,1%
14	Hyundai	156.653	142.616	9,8%
15	Kia	132.987	122.854	8,2%
16	Dacia	132.427	125.631	5,4%
17	Seat	118.224	106.920	10,6%
18	Volvo	86.418	80.398	7,5%
19	Mazda	66.329	62.660	5,9%
20	Suzuki	60.035	60.573	-0,9%
21	Mini	59.132	44.013	34,4%
22	Land Rover	51.357	46.065	11,5%
23	Honda	45.947	50.159	-8,4%
24	Mitsubishi	45.736	28.942	58,0%
25	Smart	32.264	21.767	48,2%
26	Jeep	28.457	9.646	195,0%
27	DS	27.058	32.532	-16,8%
28	Lancia-Chrysler	23.926	26.383	-9,3%
29	Porsche	23.909	17.151	39,4%
30	Alfa Romeo	20.007	21.377	-6,4%
31	Subaru	12.609	12.800	-1,5%
32	Lexus	11.763	9.588	22,7%
33	Jaguar	9.450	10.700	-11,7%
34	SSangYong	3.672	2.523	45,5%
35	Tesla	4.021	3.466	16,0%
36	Maserati	2.204	2.003	10,0%
37	Infiniti	1.820	1.052	73,0%
38	SAIC MG	1.168	767	52,3%
39	Ferrari	989	982	0,7%
40	Chevrolet	870	29.370	-97,0%
41	Bentley	841	935	-10,1%
42	Lada	639	498	28,3%
43	Aston Martin	585	602	-2,8%
44	Lamborghini	317	149	112,8%
45	Lotus	296	150	97,3%
46	Rolls Royce	199	243	-18,1%
47	Mahindra	187	107	74,8%
48	Dodge	154	199	-22,8%
49	Cadillac	154	142	8,5%
50	DR	118	79	49,4%
51	Chevrolet USA	101	505	-80,0%
52	Tata	88	180	-51,1%
53	Great Wall	35	154	-77,3%
54	Bugatti	2	3	-33,3%