After looking at the January 2018 car brand sales in Europe, let’s take a closer look at individual model sales figures. The Volkswagen Golf remains on top of the ranking but is also the fastest growing nameplate in the top-8 with a gain of 14,4% on a weak score a year ago when its facelifted version was not yet in showrooms. Still, this is the best [Read more…]
European car sales analysis January 2018 – brands
European sales of passenger cars in January increased 6,5% in January 2018 to 1,27 million, which marks the fourth consecutive year of January sales growth, with sales up 40% on the 908.000 sales in January 2013. As sales of car models (hatchbacks, sedans, staton wagons, coupes and convertibles) were stable at +2%, MPVs continued thier sharp decline as crossovers and SUVs are taking over the European streets. MPVs declined 19% to just 7,7% of the market (a new low) while crossovers increased 24% to take 34% of the market, a new high as their share was below 30% for the 2017 full year.
NEW: US green car sales analysis January 2018
In a first of a monthly series of articles, we will put a spotlight on sales of green cars in the US. The term “green cars” broadly means cars which incorporate electric motors in their drivetrains, in varying degrees of importance: Hybrid describes cars where the electric motor plays second fiddle to the primary internal combustion engine, [Read more…]
US car sales analysis January 2018 – models
After discussing the US auto brand sales ranking for January, let’s zoom in on the models ranking.
Top 10
January was a month of big changes in the Top 10. While Ford F-Series held steady at the top of the segment, its closest rival Chevrolet Silverado saw its sales rise by 14.5%, continuing its good run from December, and suggesting that the model may be “priced to move” ahead of the market debut of the new generation model. By comparison, Ram Pickup had a poor month by its own standards, seeing its sales fall by 13.1% and falling to fifth spot [Read more…]
China car sales analysis January 2018
Sales of domestic passenger cars in China beat all expectations for January 2018 with an 11% increase to 2,4 million sales. Analysts and experts had expected a slow start of the year as the tax cut on cars with engines of 1,6 liters or less had ended. However, January 2017 was an exceptionally slow month with stable sales on the same month in 2016 while February last year suddenly showed 20% growth on the year before. This phenomenon was due to the Chinese New Year celebrations last year falling in January, as opposed to February in 2016 and 2018. This means that next month is likely to balance off the January performance with stable sales or perhaps even a small decline. This is also reflected in the Seasonally Adjusted Annualized selling Rate which is down by 1 million on January 2017 at 24,74 million. We’ll need to analylse combined January and February figures to be able to draw a thorough conclusion of the state of the Chinese auto market. [Read more…]
New model introductions in China, January & February 2017
The Chinese car market is one of the most diverse in the world, with almost 500 locally produced passenger car models from more than 70 domestic and foreign brands, as you can see in our 2016 Chinese car sales analysis. If we include imported vehicles, minivans, pickups and commercial vehicles, there are more than 1.000 different models available. In the January 2017 Chinese car sales ranking, we welcome 6 new models: 5 SUVs and a sedan and in the February 2017 ranking, we welcome 4 new models: 2 crossovers, an MPV and a sedan. A few of these models haven’t officially been launched yet, but show up in the rankings due to demo sales.
Baojun 510
Baojun has launched a second new model in six months time and this 510 crossover is one of its best looking designs, especially from the front, with its squinting headlights that are visually connected to the grille by a chrome line. The sharp crease running from headlight to taillight and through the door handles makes for an attractive side design, together with the floating roof and the squared off wheel arches, although it should ride a bit lower to reduce the huge gap between the wheels and the arches.. Surprisingly, while a lot of these characteristics are familiar from other brands (Citroën, DS, Suzuki, Range Rover), the combination still looks like an original design. In the interior Baojun also shows it’s one of the more mature brands among domestics, with attractive design: an 8-inch screen on top of the center console in Mercedes-Benz style, Mini-style toggle switches underneath it and lots of “metal” frames. [Read more…]
European car sales analysis January 2017 – models
After discussing European car sales for January 2017 by brand, let’s check out what the model ranking looks like in the first month of 2017. The leader Volkswagen Golf has stabilized its decline and stays firmly in control, no surprises there. Behind it, the three subcompact cars are within 1.400 units of each other with the Ford Fiesta still ahead of the Renault Clio while the Volkswagen Polo is in fourth place this year. VW makes it 3 models in the top-5 thanks to the Tiguan, which is only 3.000 units off the #2 spot, the closest any crossover has ever been. The Opel/Vauxhall Astra is in 6th place ahead of the Peugeot 208, while the Nissan Qashqai remains the #2 crossover in Europe with its best January ever. That leaves the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa and Skoda Octavia to round up the top-10. [Read more…]
European car sales analysis January 2017 – brands
The European car market continues its steady growth in 2017 as almost 1,2 million passenger cars were sold in January, an increase of 9,6% on the previous year and a 16% increase on 2015. Some of this gain can be attributed to additional business days so we’ll have to wait until the February data is published to see how the market develops at the start of 2017. On a positive note, 21 out of the 30 countries show double digit gains, including 4 out of the 5 major markets: Spain (+10,7%), France (+10,6%), Germany (+10,5%) and Italy (+10,1%) while the UK market grew at a more modest rate of +2.9%. Only 3 countries showed declines: Switzerland (-3,7%), Ireland (-1,8%) and Slovakia (-1,2%). Big loser of 2016 The Netherlands rebounds to become the big winner with sales up 27,1%.
China car sales analysis January 2017
The Chinese car market was down 0,6% in January, which is actually surprisingly strong if you consider these two factors: January had five fewer selling days than in 2016 because of the timing of the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday, and the expected impact of the tax increase on cars with engines of 1,6 liters or less. These cars had received a tax cut from 10% to 5% since Q4 of 2015, which was increased to 7,5% in January before a next step back to 10% in 2018. Considering 72% of sales during this period were cars that qualified for the tax cut, the increase was expected to have a dimming effect on the market in the first quarter of this year. In that light, half a percent loss is not representative for the rest of the year, and doomsday thinkers will have to wait until February results before we can draw any conclusions about a slowing of demand in the worlds largest and fastest growing car markets. The Seasonally Adjusted Annualized selling Rate of 25,8 million is a fair indication the market is still healthy as it’s still 1,6 million higher than January last year. A total of 2,17 million locally produced passenger cars were sold in China in January, still the second best ever January by a large margin. Crossover and SUV sales were of course the strongest segment with 11% growth on last year to almost 881.000 units, while sedans lost 3% of their volume to 1,08 million sales. MPVs, which had shown steady growth until recently, decline a shocking 21% to just over 206.000 sales. Local brands had a 42,8% share of the market, which is lower than January last year and lower than December, but still higher than the 2016 full year figure. [Read more…]
Cadillac sold more cars in China than in the US last month
In January, China has overtaken the United States to become the largest global market for Cadillac, the luxury brand of General Motors. Cadillac reported a sales increase of 116% to 18.011 sales in China, of which 16.216 were locally produced (+160%). In comparison, the brand’s US sales in January were down 4,1% to 10.298 units. Worldwide Cadillac sales were 28.764 units in January, which means the US luxury brand sold just 455 cars outside of its two largest markets, just 1,6% of its total volume.
Until 2016, the United States has been Cadillac’s largest market with 170.006 deliveries last year, a loss of 3% on the previous year, while its 2016 sales in China surged 46% to 116.406 units, of which 111.532 were locally produced, more than double the year before. [Read more…]