After looking at the July and August 2019 brands ranking for Europe, lets zoom in on the models ranking. In July Volkswagen monopolizes the podium, with the Golf, Tiguan and Polo in the top-3 spots, a feat which only happened once before in modern history, in July 2018. The three VWs are followed by the Dacia Sandero which equals its European ranking record at #4, also hit in November 2018 and May 2019. The Renault Clio is the big loser in the top-10 due to the changeover to the new generation, while the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa makes it four subcompacts in a row. The Volkswagen T-Roc is in the top-10 for the second time ever, after last February, making it 4 VW models in the top-10. The Toyota Corolla impresses at #14, the highest ranking for the nameplate in at least 2 decades and almost knocking down the Yaris of its throne as the brand’s best seller in Europe, a title it held since 2000. [Read more…]
European car sales analysis July and August 2019 – brands
The European car market has been in a bit of rollercoaster in the summer of 2019, with sales down 7,8% in June, then up 2,6% in July before dropping 7,6% again in August. Expect a double digit gain again in September as the market suffered a severe 23% drop in that month last year as a result of the WLTP fuel efficiency standards kicking in. Still, the market is down 3,3% for 2019 so far, and September alone isn’t going to bring that back into positive territory. While in July SUVs and crossovers were the only type of vehicles to improve their sales, in August logically all types were in the red, with MPVs once again the biggest losers an falling at more than double the rate of the overall market. In July and August, electrified vehicles continued to gain market share, more specifically EVs, as PHEV sales took a nosedive due to WLTP regulations. Electric car sales grew by 90% in July and by 69% in August, while PHEV sales were down 19% in July and down 29% in August. The marker share of electrified vehicles grew to a record 3,3% in August with battery electric cars taking a 2,2% share of the overall European passenger car market.
US car sales analysis August 2018 – models
In an effort to add even more information to the data we publish each month, as well as to accelerate the time-to-market of the information, we have revamped our monthly sales table. The aim is streamline the Highlights section to focus on just the very top take-aways, while the new Notes section of the table helps pull out interesting monthly trends [Read more…]
US car sales analysis August 2018 – brands [Updated: Tesla figures]
[Update: we have updated the figures with accurate Tesla sales estimates]
After see-sawing for most of the year, the market delivered a surprisingly stable performance in August, with sales up by 1.0%. However, because of the serious sales decline in July, the YTD growth is still just 1.4%, meaning that it’s far from guaranteed that 2018 will end up being a better year than 2017. Despite a lot of dynamism
European car sales analysis August 2017 – models
After looking at the August 2017 car brand sales in Europe, let’s zoom in on individual model sales figures. The major thing to notice in the top-3 is the arrival of the Skoda Octavia behind the usual suspects VW Golf and Renault Clio. If last month the Octavia set a new personal best ranking with a 4th place, it immediately breaks that record in August, landing on the European podium for the first time since the nameplate’s was launched in 1996. The facelift with the double headlights must really have struck a chord with European buyers. In fourth place, the Volkswagen Tiguan equals the record ranking it also hit last April, and it’s Europe’s best selling crossover for the third time this year after April and January, and for the sixth time ever, after August, October and November of 2016. But wait, there’s one more record breaker in the top-5: the Dacia Sandero climbs two more spots on the personal best it set last month and is in the European top-5 for the first time ever. This also makes it a Renault-Dacia 1-2 in the subcompact car segment, as the Sandero outsells overall top-5 regulars like the Volkswagen Polo (#6), Opel/Vauxhall Corsa (#8) and Ford Fiesta (down to a record low of 32nd place), as well as other rivals like the Peugeot 208 (#9) and Toyota Yaris (#10). Granted, the Polo and Fiesta suffer from model change-overs and the Corsa is getting a bit long in the tooth, but that still doesn’t really discount the Sandero’s top performance with a gain of 23,3%. [Read more…]
European car sales analysis August 2017 – brands
European car sales are up by 6% in August 2017, the largest year-over-year increase in the last 3 months, and the fourth straight month of growth for the European market. August being the traditional holdiday month for Europeans, especially those in the South, it’s by far the slowest month of the year in terms of volume. Just 893.000 cars were registered in August 2017, more than a million fewer than last March. The year-to-date figure now stands at 10,54 million sales, up 4,1% on the first eight months of 2016. Among the five biggest markets, Italy (+15,8%) and Spain (+13%) showed the strongest improvements, as France (+9,4%) also outgrew the market, and Germany (+3,5%) improved at a lower pace, but the United Kingdom (-6,4%) is once again going in the opposite direction. Including the smaller markets, Lithuania (+34,4%) and neighbouring Latvia (+25,8%) showed the strongest growth, split by Iceland (+28,8%). Besides the UK, other markets in a negative trend are Ireland (-21,3%), Denmark (-12,1%), Cyprus (-10%), Belgium (-8,1%) and Romania (-3,3%).
Renault-Nissan is the biggest gaining manufacturer for the first time since last March, although the company has held on to its top spot in the year-to-date rankings ever since. In August, Renault-Nissan’s gain is more than 10.000 sales ahead of the next best performer, Volkswagen Group, while Daimler AG is not far behind the latter, leaving last month’s big winner Toyota Motor Company off the podium this month. In terms of relative growth, Aston Martin doubles up for the second consecutive month, while the two Chinese manufacturers SAIC and Geely also outperform. SAIC’s MG brand comes from a low base, selling just a few hundred cars a month in the UK only, while Geely benefits from its investments in the Swedish Volvo brand and the small British Lotus sportscar brand.
China car sales analysis August 2017
The Chinese car market grows for the third consecutive month in August 2017, with a 6,5% increase to 1,87 million sales. That brings the year-to-date total to almost 14,5 million sales, an increase of 3,7% on the same period in 2016. Looking at the final four months of last year, they were exceptionally good in terms of sales volume due to the pending reduction of the tax cut on small vehicles (engines of less than 1,6 liters). The tax, which was temporarily halved to 5%, increased to 7,5% on Jan. 1st 2017 and will return to its normal rate of 10% on Jan. 1st 2018. This may give the Chinese car market another boost in the final few months of this year, but will it be enough to keep the market from decreasing for the first time in a couple of decades? The year-end rally in 2016 pulled forward a lot of sales, which translated in a slow start of 2017 and that may be difficult to make up in the final few months of the year. Back to August: crossovers and SUVs continue their boom with an 18% increase to 760.700 sales, but for only the second time this year, after February, sedan sales also improved, up 4% to 954.800 units. The MPV segment remains weak with a decline of 19% to 155.200 sales. Within those sales figures, electric cars and PHEVs also showed a impressive improvement of 76% in August, to almost 68.000 sales. EVs were responsible for most of that growth, as sales increased 96% to 56.000, compared to a 22% increase for PHEVs, to 12.000. These figures add up to 260.000 EV and 59.000 PHEV sales in China so far this year, an increase of 30% on the first 8 months of 2016 and 2,2% of the overall market. The Beijing government has set a target of 6,7% in 2020 and as much as 20% by 2025, helped by a carbon credit scheme that will be imposed in 2018.
The Seasonally Adjusted Annualized selling Rate in August stood at 24,9 million, the highest since last January and up almost a million on July. The share of domestic automakers in August was 38,5%, the lowest figure in the past 13 months and down from 39,15% in August 2016. However, it’s worth noting that the share of domestic brands in the crossover segment is an impressive 56%. Despite their success in this hot segment, sales of domestic brand vehicles across all segments trailed the market growth at +4,7%, though still beat the US brands at +2,8% and the South-Korean brands at -27,2%, their lowest rate of decline since last February. With European brands up 8,7%, most of the growth in China came from Japanese brands at +25,3%.
US sales: August 2017, models
After discussing the US auto brand sales ranking for August, let’s take a closer look at the models ranking.
Top 10
The Top 10 this year has been the setting of many fascinating battles. First, there is the battle of the Large Pickups, a battle which Ford F-series remains firmly in control of despite a wobbly start to the year, with sales up 15.0% in August alone. Following the Ford are Chevrolet Silverado and Ram Pickup, with the Ram putting in some good performances earlier this year, outselling its rival for three straight months March through May and coming to within 5,000 cars in the YTD total at the end of that period, but the Chevy regaining initiative since then to widen the YTD sales gap to over 35,000 units by the end of August. August growth stats reflect this clearly: sales for the Chevy are up 3.9%, while for the Ram they are down 6.5%, the largest drop in 12 months.
US sales: August 2017, brands
The decline in the US car market continued with a 1.6% decline in sales, despite August this year having one more sales day than last year. Despite the fact that some of the fall may be attributed to the impact of Hurricane Harvey, which hit the US towards the end of the month, it is clear that the market is not going to pick up anytime soon. The poor performance in August caused the SAAR (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate) figure to drop to 16.13 million vehicles, the lowest figure in over three years.
European car sales analysis August 2016 – models
After discussing the August 2016 European car brand sales ranking, let’s take a look at how sales of individual models compare. The first thing to notice in the model ranking is that Volkswagen has no less than 4 models in the top-10 for the first time ever, thanks to a record 6th place for the new generation Tiguan, the best selling crossover in Europe for the first time as well. This more than makes up for the double digit losses of the #1 and #2 in the ranking: the Golf and Polo. Another interesting peculiarity worth mentioning is that there are less than 1.000 sales between the #2 and #6 in the ranking, indicating how competitive this month has been. If in May the traditional leader VW Golf was followed by no less than 5 subcompact cars, in August that figure is down to 2, with the VW Polo and Ford Fiesta being followed by the Opel/Vauxhall Astra, Skoda Octavia and VW Tiguan, which all outsell the Peugeot 208, Opel/Vauxhall Corsa and Renault Clio. Especially the latter has a month to quickly forget, with sales down 30% and its lowest ranking in 4 years, while the Octavia easily hits its highest ranking of the year. [Read more…]