Chevrolet-Daewoo Sales Data & Trends for the European Automotive Market
Chevrolet was pulled from the European car market at the end of 2015 because of continued losses for its parent company General Motors in this continent. Chevrolet was reintroduced in Europe in 2004 when GM bought the bankrupt South Korean car brand Daewoo, and decided to slap on Chevrolet badges on those low-quality budget cars. Then it slowly raised its prices to mainstream levels, hoping to imitate the European success of Hyundai-Kia.
But while these brands started developing their cars specifically for the European market and currently build up to 90% of their cars in the continent itself, Chevrolet kept importing vehicles from South-Korea. As a result, Chevrolet cars don’t match European preferences as well as their competitors and Chevrolet’s image never recovered from the damage done in the early days of rebadged Daewoo vehicles.
With Opel and Chevrolet going after the same European mainstream customer, sometimes even with similar cars (Opel Ampera / Chevrolet Volt and Opel Mokka / Chevrolet Trax), and both losing money for years, the decision to remove Chevrolet from the European car market makes sense, even when I don’t think GM will be able to convert many Chevrolet customers into Opel prospects. Expect Dacia, Skoda and Hyundai-Kia to take the bulk of these buyers.
From 2009 through 2012, Chevrolet’s European market share has remained relatively stable, thanks to the introduction of the Cruze midsized car in the second half of 2009 and the Orlando midsized MPV in 2011, but the brand’s decline started in 2012, despite the introduction of the small SUV Chevrolet Trax that year. The Aveo compact was the first to start losing ground, as it sales have halved from 2012 to 2013.
After announcing its departure from Europe by the end of 2015, Chevy’s 2014 sales have plummeted by three quarters as distributors and dealers sold off their inventories without any more new vehicles arriving in the port. The last few remaining stock models will be sold early 2016.
Also find Chevrolet US sales figures and Chevrolet China sales figures.
Monthly Vehicle Sales
Annual Vehicle Sales
Annual Vehicle Sales Chart
Also find sales figures for the Chevrolet Spark/Matiz, Aveo/Kalos, Cruze, HHR, Malibu, Orlando, Trax, Captiva, Volt, Lacetti, Nubira, Epica, Tacuma, and the Daewoo Lanos, Leganza.
Car sales statistics are from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland. Sources: Manufacturers, ANDC, JATO Dynamics.