True to form, the US market followed a month of growth with a decline, as sales fell by 0.5% compared to November 2018. However, the fall was not nearly as bad as it could have been, and was in fact the most modest monthly decline recorded so far in 2018. A decline is a decline, though, and November’s decline brought the YTD growth to 0.4%, [Read more…]
European car sales analysis November 2017 – models
After looking at the November 2017 car brand sales in Europe, let’s take a closer look at individual model sales figures. After hitting a historic #1 spot last March, the Ford Fiesta has been off the European podium every month since. Until November, when deliveries of the new generation Fiesta boosted the model back to third place behind the traditional leader Volkswagen Golf and the Renault Clio. The Golf is up for the 5th consecutive month of which its third straight double digit gain after its facelift, while the Clio is down for only the second time this year. [Read more…]
European car sales analysis November 2017 – brands
In November 2017, European sales of passenger cars continued on the same pace as in October, with a 6% growth rate to 1,25 million sales, partially helped by one additional selling day compared to November 2016. This marks the 9th month of increased sales this year 2017 and brings the year-to-date total up 3,7% to 14,36 sales after 11 months. That’s already above the 2015 full year figure and gives us an estimated 15,6 million sales for the full year 2017, the fourth consecutive year of growth and just half a million sales off the record years 2004 and 2005. Sales of regular cars (hatchbacks, station wagons, sedans, coupes and convertibles) are stable in [Read more…]
US sales: November 2017, models
After discussing the US auto brand sales ranking for November, let’s zoom in on the models ranking.
Top 10
November saw some unexpected sales surges in the Top 10. While nothing exciting happened in the Top 3, five of the remaining seven models registered growth rates of over 20%! Of these the sales growth experienced by the new Toyota Camry is fully expected, as the new more exciting model seems to be getting early purchase with customers, while the new Honda CR-V is once again seeing good sales growth. The bigger surprises came from market stalwarts such as Nissan Rogue, whose sales were up by over 35% and which came within 1,000 units of outselling Ram Pickup in third, as well as Honda Civic and Ford Explorer, the latter of which placed in the Top 10 for the first time ever! (In fact, it may be the first time a Mid-sized SUV has placed in the Top 10, a place normally occupied by Large Pickups, Compact and Mid-sized cars, and Compact SUVs. By comparison, Toyota RAV4 and Ford Escape had a quiet month in eight and ninth place.
US sales: November 2017, brands
The see-sawing we have observed in the US market in the past few months continued in November, with a sales increase of 1.4%. This follows a decline in October, growth in September, and eight straight months of decline before that. As a result of the larger decline in sales earlier in the year the market is still down 1.2% YTD, but this still looks much better than the position it was just four months ago in July, when it was down 2.6% YTD. It is still much too early to talk about a recovery per se, but the signs are the worst decline has been halted for now.
European car sales analysis November 2016 – models
After analysing European car sales for November 2016 by brand, let’s check out what the model ranking looks like. The Renault Clio celebrates its best November ever in 2nd place behint the traditional leader Volkswagen Golf, and ahead of its segment rivals Volkswagen Polo and Ford Fiesta. The Opel/Vauxhall Astra is in 5th place for the second month in a row, followed by the Skoda Octavia, also with its best November ever. The Volkswagen Tiguan drops a position on last month, but celebrates its fourth straight month in the European top-10, while the Renault Captur is the 2nd best selling crossover in the continent, back in the top-10 for the first time since June, with – you guessed it – its best November ever. The same goes for the Nissan Qashqai by the way, right behind the Captur in 11th place. The Fiat Panda hits its best ranking since February in 12th place while its sibling Fiat 500 is down in 29th place. The Renault Megane (#14) doubles up its volume of last year and outsells the Peugeot 308 (#20) for the first time since June 2014 and the Ford Focus (#15) for the first time since December 2012. The Opel/Vauxhall Mokka (#21) outsells its rival Peugeot 2008 (#22) for only the third time this year, with the Dacia Duster (#25) not far behind.
For the first time since exactly one year ago, the Renault Kadjar (#33) outsells both the Kia Sportage (#36) and the Ford Kuga (#48), and the all-new Peugeot 3008 crossover also beats those two in 35th place. [Read more…]
European car sales analysis November 2016 – brands
November 2016 car sales in Europe are back in the positive after a slight drop the month before. A total of 1.176.026 new passenger cars were registered last month, an increase of 4,7% on the same month last year. That brings the 11-month total to 13.833.784 sales, up 6,5% on the same period last year and less than 300.000 sales from the 2015 full-year score for the 30 countries that make up the EU + EFTA. In other words, 2016 is going to be the third consecutive year of growth for the European car market after hitting rock bottom with less than 12,3 millions sales in 2013. All major markets showed improving sales, with the Southern European leading the way once again: Spain (+13,5%), France (+8,5%) and Italy (+8,2%) were outperforming, while the UK (+2,9%) and Germany (+1,5%) grew slower than the rest of the market. As 12 of the smaller markets grew by double digits (let by Hungary at +42,8%), The Netherlands (-20%) and Bulgaria (-7,1%) were the only losers in November.
China car sales analysis November 2016
Get ready to see some sales records shattered again: in November the Chinese car market broke its 11-month old record of 2,38 million sales in a single month by 150.000 units to over 2,53 million sales, an increase of 19,6% on last year’s November, which happened to be the first time Chinese car sales topped the 2 million sales milestone. It also means that China has broken 2015’s full-year record of 20,18 million sales already in November, as the year-to-date tally now stands at 21 million sales in 2016. Again, the purchase tax cut on vehicles with an engine of 1,6 liters or less fueled the market, as the central government still hasn’t decided (or at least made public) whether to extend the tax cut into 2017. If they keep this up, next month could be yet another monster month, breaking this month’s record again. Regardless of the outcome, pulling forward these car sales will have a moderating effect on the first few months of 2017, as analysts uniformly agree the next two years will see Chinese car sales plateau. Then again, analysts have been predicting this scenario for a few years now, and they keep getting proven wrong as the Chinese auto market has continued to grow sharply against all odds.
The Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Selling Rate again hit a new record in November at 26,4 million units. Sales of crossovers and SUVs shot up 41% to 1,02 million units, while deliveries of sedans increased 10% to 1,28 million and MPV sales grew 8% to 235.700. The share of local brands dipped from their record of 44,35% in October to 42,42% in November, still above the average of this year, as year-to-date the local brands have a share of 40,67% of their home market, compared to just 37,66% over the full year 2015.
The earth-shaking news this month is the Haval H6, becoming the first SUV to break the 70.000 monthly sales barrier. [Read more…]
European car sales analysis November 2015 – models
After discussing the European car brands sales for November 2015, let’s zoom in on which models stood out of the crowd last month. For the fifth time this year and the second time in a row, Volkswagen monopolizes the top-2 positions with the Golf and the Polo. In fact, the entire top-6 is exactly the same as in October. The Polo’s good run won’t be enough for the Polo to take the #2 spot over the full year, because the Ford Fiesta has enjoyed exceptionally strong months in March and September on its UK volume. It looks like the top-10 positions are cemented for the full-year ranking, there’s just a small chance the Passat may have such a strong December to leapfrog the Peugeot 208 for 8th place.
The Audi A3 outsells the Ford Focus to take 11th place and the all-new Opel/Vauxhall Astra is just one spot and less than 250 units behind the Focus. After a short hiccup in October, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class (#18) is back well ahead of the BMW 3-series in 23rd place, while the Audi A4 is down to #45 as it is changing to the new generation. In fact, the A4 is even outsold by the Audi A6 (#40) for the first time since February 2012. The A6 benefits from the upcoming model changes for the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (#56) and BMW 5-series (#59). [Read more…]
European car sales analysis November 2015 – brands
Car sales in Europe got a significant boost in November, up 13,25% to 1.116.838 sales, the second-best improvement this year. That pulls up the year-to-date total to 12.967.470, which is an improvement of 8,36% on 2014. This means we’re still on track to cross the 14 million unit barrier this year. To hit that threshold, December sales need to improve by only 3,7% and we’ve been below that figure only three months this year.
After a short hiatus in October, Volkswagen Group and Renault-Nissan are back as the biggest gaining manufacturers in November, this time joined by Ford Motor Company in third place. The only manufacturer to lose volume this month is DRB-Hicom with the Lotus sports car brand, down a mere 12 units after more than doubling in October. Tesla Motors continues its winning spell, followed by Mahindra&Mahindra thanks to its SSangYong brand, and Tata Motors thanks to both Jaguar and Land Rover increasing more than 70%. [Read more…]