European car sales analysis July 2017 – brands

July marks the third consecutive month of growth for European car sales, and the sixth this year. A total of 1,19 million cars were registered in the 28 countries of the European Union and EFTA, an increase of 3,2% on last year. This brings the year-to-date tally to 9,56 million sales, up 4% on the first seven months of 2016. Among the five biggest markets, Italy (+15,8%) and Spain (+13%) showed the strongest improvements, as France (+9,4%) and Germany (+3,5%) also outgrew the market, but the United Kingdom (-6,4%) suffered another blow. Including the smaller markets, Greece (+19,7%) was once again the best performer, while Ireland (-7,2%), Switzerland (-4,6%) and Denmark (-3,3%) are the only other three markets to lose volume on last year.

Among manufacturers, Toyota Motor is the best performer in terms of absolute growth, although Renault-Nissan is only a handful of sales behind and Daimler AG remains pretty close as well. The first two add more than 10.000 sales to their July volume of last year, while the latter grows by close to 9.600 sales. On the other end of the scale, Ford Motor Company loses more than 7.000 sales as its best seller Fiesta is in a model change phase which temporarily hurts its deliveries. BMW Group loses almost 1.200 sales and Honda continues to lose volume for the 7th month this year. In relative terms, Aston Martin is the only manufacturer to more than double up, while Tesla Motors adds 63% and General Motors‘ US brands Cadillac and Chevrolet (sports cars and SUVs) grows by almost 50% from its low base. Mahindra & Mahindra is hurt by slowing sales of its South-Korean SUV brand SsangYong and is the fastest declining manufacturer, followed by Ford Motor Company and Honda.

Looking at brand level, Toyota is still the biggest gainer, followed by Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot, the latter helped by its recently introduced SUV models 3008 and 5008. Behind Ford, the biggest loser, Volkswagen and Opel/Vauxhall are also among the brands hurting the most in July, each losing about 6.000 sales or more. Relatively, Cadillac more than doubles its European sales, albeit to still a lowly 89 (eighty nine) units, making it the fastest growing brand but still an utter wallflower compared to the German luxury brands and even to niche players like Lexus, Infiniti and DS which have never been able to break the German dominance on their home soil. In fact, Infiniti is the fastest declining brand with a loss of more than a third of its volume now that the Q30 and QX30 have been unable to put the brand on the map in Europe and DS also loses more than a quarter of its volume. So does Chinese/Italian small player DR which assembles Chery models in Italy in very low numbers.

July winners and losers

Manufacturer biggest volume increase	Toyota Motor	10.187		Manufacturer biggest volume lost	Ford Motor Comp.	-7.053
	Renault-Nissan	10.176			BMW Group	-1.193
	Daimler AG	9.592			Honda	-656
Manufacturer biggest % increase	Aston Martin	105,3%		Manufacturer biggest % lost	Mahindra & Mahindra	-18,7%
	Tesla Motors	63,0%			Ford Motor Comp.	-8,5%
	General Motors	48,8%			Honda	-6,0%
Brand biggest volume increase	Toyota	9.975		Brand biggest volume lost	Ford	-7.053
	Mercedes-Benz	9.350			Volkswagen	-6.361
	Peugeot	6.354			Opel/Vauxhall	-5.981
Brand biggest % increase	Cadillac	134,2%		Brand biggest % lost	Infiniti	-35,9%
	Aston Martin	105,3%			DR	-26,9%
	Tesla	63,0%			DS	-26,4%

 

Renault-Nissan remains the manufacturer that has added the most volume in Europe so far in 2017 with almost 70.000 additional sales, but Toyota Motor has now moved ahead of Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles as both add almost 60.000 sales to their figure of the first seven months of 2016. Honda has declined every month so far this year, for a total of just over 12.500 lost sales, while Mazda is down by just over 7.100 sales and Subaru by almost 1.700. In relative figures, both Tesla Motors and Aston Martin continue to almost double up, while GM keeps growing by more than 50% now that it is reduced to a niche player in Europe due to its sale of Opel/Vauxhall to PSA. Honda and Subaru remain the biggest relative losers, and are now joined by Mahnindra & Mahindra in third place, with Mazda being the fourth and last manufacturer to lose volume so far in 2017.

In terms of brands, Opel/Vauxhall is now the biggest loser in 2017 with over 20.000 lost sales, while PSA’s luxury brand DS is also down by almost 16.000 sales. Miraculously, PSA remains in the positive thanks to excellent growth figures of its French mainstream brands Peugeot and Citroën. In relative growth, Maserati now outpaces Chevrolet thanks to a 62,6% growth curve, helped by the Levante SUV.

January-July winners and losers

Manufacturer biggest volume increase	Renault-Nissan	69.430		Manufacturer biggest volume lost	Honda	-12.560
	Toyota Motor	59.466			Mazda	-7.107
	Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles	58.094			Subaru Corp.	-1.686
Manufacturer biggest % increase	Tesla Motors	94,9%		Manufacturer biggest % lost	Honda	-12,6%
	Aston Martin	92,4%			Subaru Corp.	-7,6%
	General Motors	52,4%			Mahindra & Mahindra	-7,3%
Brand biggest volume increase	Toyota	59.380		Brand biggest volume lost	Opel/Vauxhall	-20.204
	Mercedes-Benz	56.376			DS	-15.902
	Fiat	44.596			Honda	-12.560
Brand biggest % increase	Tesla	94,9%		Brand biggest % lost	DS	-35,7%
	Aston Martin	92,4%			Mahindra	-25,1%
	Maserati	62,6%			Dodge	-14,5%

 

Market leader Volkswagen loses 4,7% of its volume in July, which reduces its market share by 0,9 percentage points. It’s still firmly in control, ahead of Renault and Ford, while Mercedes-Benz equals its highest-ever ranking in 4th place, which it also hit in August 2016 for the first and only time ever before. That leaves Opel/Vauxhall in 5th place,with a loss of 7,9%, and less then 200 sales ahead of stablemate Peugeot and less than 400 sales ahead of Audi in 7th place. Audi moves Fiat down into #8 and BMW down into 9th place compared to their June rankings, and Toyota moves back in the top-10 ahead of Skoda. The Japanese brand is the fastest growing brand in the top-25 thanks to the successful launch of its C-HR crossover. Compared to last year, Citroën leapfrogs Hundai and Nissan, while Kia is ahead of Dacia for the first time since last March. Suzuki is the #3 Japanese brand for the 6th time this year, ahead of Mazda, while Mitsubishi closes in on Honda. Also for the 6th time this year Jaguar is outsold by Alfa Romeo and by quite a large margin, with Porsche in between the two rivals.

July brands ranking

	Brand	July-17	change	2017 share	2016 share
1	Volkswagen	129.660	-4,7%	10,9%	11,8%
2	Renault	76.825	8,4%	6,5%	6,2%
3	Ford	75.638	-8,5%	6,4%	7,2%
4	Mercedes-Benz	73.614	14,5%	6,2%	5,6%
5	Opel/Vauxhall	69.755	-7,9%	5,9%	6,6%
6	Peugeot	69.578	10,0%	5,9%	5,5%
7	Audi	69.374	4,5%	5,9%	5,8%
8	Fiat	58.097	-1,3%	4,9%	5,1%
9	BMW	57.484	-1,4%	4,8%	5,1%
10	Toyota	54.123	22,6%	4,6%	3,8%
11	Skoda	52.383	7,2%	4,4%	4,3%
12	Citroën	44.392	8,5%	3,7%	3,6%
13	Hyundai	42.479	2,0%	3,6%	3,6%
14	Nissan	41.101	0,3%	3,5%	3,6%
15	Kia	40.200	10,3%	3,4%	3,2%
16	Dacia	39.978	9,8%	3,4%	3,2%
17	Seat	32.267	9,1%	2,7%	2,6%
18	Volvo	21.709	1,1%	1,8%	1,9%
19	Suzuki	18.878	16,0%	1,6%	1,4%
20	Mazda	17.638	0,9%	1,5%	1,5%
21	Mini	14.708	-2,7%	1,2%	1,3%
22	Land Rover	12.540	9,4%	1,1%	1,0%
23	Honda	10.288	-6,0%	0,9%	1,0%
24	Mitsubishi	9.321	12,8%	0,8%	0,7%
25	Jeep	8.037	-1,4%	0,7%	0,7%
26	Smart	7.503	3,3%	0,6%	0,6%
27	Alfa Romeo	7.422	43,7%	0,6%	0,4%
28	Porsche	6.160	21,6%	0,5%	0,4%
29	Jaguar	4.635	-15,9%	0,4%	0,5%
30	Lancia-Chrysler	4.275	-6,6%	0,4%	0,4%
31	DS	3.626	-26,4%	0,3%	0,4%
32	Lexus	3.309	6,8%	0,3%	0,3%
33	Subaru	2.314	-5,0%	0,2%	0,2%
34	SSangYong	1.235	-19,2%	0,1%	0,1%
35	Infiniti	1.130	-35,9%	0,1%	0,2%
36	Tesla	1.084	63,0%	0,1%	0,1%
37	Maserati	830	37,0%	0,1%	0,1%
38	Lada	420	39,1%	0,0%	0,0%
39	Bentley	345	6,2%	0,0%	0,0%
40	SAIC MG	305	0,0%	0,0%	0,0%
41	Chevrolet	287	35,4%	0,0%	0,0%
42	Ferrari	239	-5,5%	0,0%	0,0%
43	Aston Martin	154	105,3%	0,0%	0,0%
44	Lamborghini	93	1,1%	0,0%	0,0%
45	Cadillac	89	134,2%	0,0%	0,0%
46	Rolls Royce	84	2,4%	0,0%	0,0%
47	Lotus	73	58,7%	0,0%	0,0%
48	Dodge	60	20,0%	0,0%	0,0%
49	DR	38	-26,9%	0,0%	0,0%
50	Mahindra	37	0,0%	0,0%	0,0%
51	Geely	15	–	0,0%	0,0%
52	Bugatti	2	–	0,0%	0,0%

 
Volkswagen loses half a percentage point of market share in the first seven months of 2017 but is still the only brand above 10% share, while Renault remains the fastest growing the top-5 and the only to grow its market share. Opel/Vauxhall is losing its connection to the top-3 with sales down 3,3%, which makes it the biggest loses of the top-19. Toyota is the biggest winner in the top-10 which it enters to the detriment of Skoda, while Kia holds on to its 15th place ahead of Dacia thanks to its performance in July. Alfa Romeo gains 3 places by leapfrogging Porsche, Lancia and DS, and Jaguar also moves past those latter two. Tesla now outsells SSangYong and Infiniti, and Bentley has sold more cars in Europe than SAIC MG has sold in the UK so far this year.

January – July brands ranking

	Brand	Jan-July 2017	change	2017 share	2016 share	2016 rank
1	Volkswagen	1.028.075	-1,0%	10,8%	11,3%	1
2	Renault	693.573	4,6%	7,3%	7,2%	2
3	Ford	654.425	1,1%	6,9%	7,0%	3
4	Opel/Vauxhall	591.845	-3,3%	6,2%	6,7%	4
5	Peugeot	564.469	4,4%	5,9%	5,9%	5
6	Mercedes-Benz	546.034	11,5%	5,7%	5,3%	7
7	Fiat	517.509	9,4%	5,4%	5,1%	9
8	Audi	509.246	0,2%	5,3%	5,5%	6
9	BMW	489.982	1,6%	5,1%	5,2%	8
10	Toyota	418.182	16,5%	4,4%	3,9%	11
11	Skoda	416.459	5,6%	4,4%	4,3%	10
12	Citroën	365.140	4,2%	3,8%	3,8%	12
13	Nissan	353.347	4,4%	3,7%	3,7%	13
14	Hyundai	307.087	2,6%	3,2%	3,3%	14
15	Kia	282.504	6,4%	3,0%	2,9%	15
16	Dacia	280.769	9,6%	2,9%	2,8%	16
17	Seat	242.717	15,5%	2,5%	2,3%	17
18	Volvo	181.933	7,1%	1,9%	1,8%	18
19	Suzuki	143.707	22,0%	1,5%	1,3%	21
20	Mazda	136.925	-4,9%	1,4%	1,6%	19
21	Land Rover	105.413	1,8%	1,1%	1,1%	22
22	Mini	125.366	1,8%	1,3%	1,3%	20
23	Honda	87.069	-12,6%	0,9%	1,1%	23
24	Mitsubishi	70.466	-2,1%	0,7%	0,8%	24
25	Jeep	61.753	-1,9%	0,6%	0,7%	26
26	Smart	60.337	-8,0%	0,6%	0,7%	25
27	Alfa Romeo	53.755	40,7%	0,6%	0,4%	30
28	Porsche	46.469	11,7%	0,5%	0,5%	29
29	Jaguar	44.810	19,2%	0,5%	0,4%	31
30	Lancia-Chrysler	41.591	-7,1%	0,4%	0,5%	27
31	DS	28.680	-35,7%	0,3%	0,5%	28
32	Lexus	25.821	0,3%	0,3%	0,3%	32
33	Subaru	20.404	-7,6%	0,2%	0,2%	33
34	Tesla	13.058	94,9%	0,1%	0,1%	36
35	SSangYong	10.932	-6,8%	0,1%	0,1%	34
36	Infiniti	8.851	2,2%	0,1%	0,1%	35
37	Maserati	6.392	62,6%	0,1%	0,0%	37
38	Lada	2.943	30,2%	0,0%	0,0%	38
39	Bentley	2.484	21,5%	0,0%	0,0%	40
40	SAIC MG	2.299	4,4%	0,0%	0,0%	39
41	Ferrari	1.795	-10,0%	0,0%	0,0%	41
42	Aston Martin	1.749	92,4%	0,0%	0,0%	43
43	Chevrolet	1.675	58,8%	0,0%	0,0%	42
44	Lamborghini	594	-2,8%	0,0%	0,0%	44
45	Cadillac	578	43,1%	0,0%	0,0%	47
46	Lotus	521	18,7%	0,0%	0,0%	45
47	Rolls Royce	472	7,8%	0,0%	0,0%	46
48	Dodge	342	-14,5%	0,0%	0,0%	48
49	DR	269	-10,9%	0,0%	0,0%	50
50	Mahindra	254	-25,1%	0,0%	0,0%	49
51	Geely	138	885,7%	0,0%	0,0%	51
52	Bugatti	8	166,7%	0,0%	0,0%	52
53	Daihatsu	1	0,0%	0,0%	0,0%	53

European car sales statistics are from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom. They exclude vehicles registered as commercial vehicles. Source: ANDC, JATO Dynamics