Car sales in Europe dropped by 23.75% in 2020 to just under 12 million deliveries, which translates to a loss of over 3.5 million new car deliveries. That makes 2020 the worst year for automotive sales in modern history, both in terms of losses and in terms of absolute figures. Almost all European markets recorded double-digit declines in 2020, with the notable exception being Norway, where sales were virtually flat at -0.7%. Among Europe’s five major car markets, Spain posted the sharpest drop (-32.3%), followed closely by the UK (-29.4%) Italy (-27.9%) and France (-25.5%), while Germany (-19.1%) also saw a significant drop in deliveries.
Sales of car models (hatchback, sedan, stationwagon, coupe and convertible) continue to trail the market at -25% to their lowest share ever at 54.1%, down half a percentage point from 2019. Crossover and SUVs keep gaining share at -20.8% and are up to a record 40.2% share, up 1.9 percentage points on last year. Meanwhile, MPV sales are down 39.2% to 5.7% share. This is also a record low and down 1.4 percentage points from their previous low in 2019. Within these figures, electric cars and plug-in hybrids finally broke through the 10% share barrier at 11% (6.2% for EVs alone), up from 3.6% in 2019 (2.2% EVs) with a total of 1.3 million deliveries. Expect a share of over 20% in 2021.
Europe 2020 Manufacturers
Volkswagen Group outperforms the market in this difficult year, as its figures are down 20.8% to just over 3 million deliveries, giving it 25.4% market share, up 0.9 percentage points. Its nearest rivals both lose share with PSA down 29.4% to 1.73 million deliveries and down 1.2 percentage points to 14.5% share, and Renault-Nissan down 26.4% to 1.61 million deliveries, down 0.5 percentage points to 13.5% share.
BMW AG passes Hyundai-Kia to take the #4 spot in Europe with sales down 18.6% while the Koreans are down 19.7%. Daimler AG was just 20,000 deliveries behind its rival from Munich in 2019, but its 24% loss in 2020 drops it another 50,000 deliveries behind. Ford Motor Company is the biggest loser among major manufacturers, with sales down 29.5% to drop below 700,000 units. That puts Toyota Motor and FCA in very close pursuit, with the Japanese manufacturer down 12.3% to 688,000 deliveries passing the American-Italians, down 25.5% to 684,000 deliveries. In 2021, FCA will be merged with PSA to form Stellantis, a group which would be the #2 player in Europe with 2.4 million sales and a market share of 20.3% in 2020, the only manufacturer to come close to VW Group. Geely Group is at a distance in 10th place with just under 300,000 deliveries, but it’s the best performing manufacturer in the top-15 with sales down 11.7%.
The smaller Japanese manufacturers are struggling mightily in Europe this year, with Suzuki down 34%, Mazda down 39.9%, Honda down 34.1% and Subaru down 40.4%. This is partially because Europe makes up such a small portion of their worldwide sales, that they have trouble adjusting their products specifically to this market, especially when it comes to their emissions. In 2020, the EU started handing out big penalties per vehicle sold to manufacturers who didn’t meet their CO2 emissions targets. To avoid or lower those penalties, some of them (most notably Suzuki and Mazda) have pre-registered some offending models in late 2019 and slowed down or stopped sales of those models in early 2020 until they could update them with more efficient engines. Honda and Subaru have focused more on profitability per vehicle sold than on sheer volume, while also waiting for more efficient versions to arrive. As a result, Honda and Subaru are down to their lowest market shares ever in Europe at 0.68% and 0.16%.
Europe 2020 Brands
In the brands ranking, the top-3 brands all lose between 22% and 24% of their sales of 2019, which means Peugeot jumps to third place, just ahead of Mercedes-Benz (-17.4%) as both brands knock down Ford (-29.5%) into 5th place. The best performers in the top-10 are Toyota (-12.1%) and Skoda (-14.6%). Toyota passes Skoda and Audi to take 7th place, while Opel/Vauxhall is the worst performer at -39.8% and falls behind those same two brands. At least in Q4 Opel/Vauxhall started crawling back from rock bottom, and with the new Mokka crossover coming in 2021, the brand should be able to bounce back a bit this year. Dacia also struggled in 2020 with sales down 30.8%, but the new generation Sandero and the addition of the Spring small EV should boost the brand in 2021. Volvo (-14.3%) and Kia (-15.6%) were the best performing brands in the top-20. Kia jumped 3 places to #13, while Volvo passes Nissan in the ranking. Further down Tesla (-12.3%), Porsche (-5.4%) also outperformed the market. Tesla now outsells Honda in Europe and Porsche also closes in on the Japanese brand. Super luxury brands were less affected by the slowdown, with Ferrari sales up 13%, Bentley down just 10.8% and Lamborghini sales down just 7.8%.
SAIC MG was the big winner in 2020 as it expanded its market from just the UK to some select markets in continental Europe late 2019 and expanded further in 2020. The addition of its all-electric crossover ZS EV also helped the brand grow 58.1% in Europe. Other gainers were Mahindra at +17.5% thanks to the addition of the small crossover KUV100, Great Wall with sales more than tripling, however it remains a niche player with 370 sales, even behind newcomer and fellow Chinese brand Aiways which delivered the first 430 units of its U5 EV crossover. Geely/Volvo’s EV brand Polestar landed at #37 in the brands ranking with 8,811 deliveries and Chinese/Italian brand DR Motor was stable at -1.4%.
Among other small brands, Alpine struggled in its second full year of sales, down almost 70%. Lada was down 60% as it prepares to leave the EU market, Infiniti has already ended sales in Europe, while Chevrolet and Cadillac are decimated even further, although the latter showed a small rebound in the fourth quarter thanks to the XT4 crossover. Its volume remains insignificant, though.
| Brand | 2020 | 2019 | change | 2020 share | 2019 share | 2019 rank | |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 1.341.569 | 1.757.429 | -23,7% | 11,2% | 11,2% | 1 |
| 2 | Renault | 817.051 | 1.057.450 | -22,7% | 6,9% | 6,8% | 2 |
| 3 | Peugeot | 753.429 | 968.341 | -22,2% | 6,3% | 6,2% | 4 |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz | 749.162 | 906.560 | -17,4% | 6,3% | 5,8% | 5 |
| 5 | Ford | 699.631 | 992.144 | -29,5% | 5,9% | 6,3% | 3 |
| 6 | BMW | 673.724 | 825.035 | -18,3% | 5,6% | 5,3% | 6 |
| 7 | Toyota | 641.597 | 729.823 | -12,1% | 5,4% | 4,7% | 10 |
| 8 | Skoda | 634.160 | 742.927 | -14,6% | 5,3% | 4,7% | 8 |
| 9 | Audi | 601.844 | 740.796 | -18,8% | 5,0% | 4,7% | 9 |
| 10 | Opel/Vauxhall | 486.910 | 808.576 | -39,8% | 4,1% | 5,2% | 7 |
| 11 | Fiat | 475.041 | 630.549 | -24,7% | 4,0% | 4,0% | 11 |
| 12 | Citroën | 449.807 | 627.540 | -28,3% | 3,8% | 4,0% | 12 |
| 13 | Kia | 420.175 | 498.093 | -15,6% | 3,5% | 3,2% | 16 |
| 14 | Hyundai | 418.536 | 546.840 | -23,5% | 3,5% | 3,5% | 14 |
| 15 | Dacia | 398.694 | 576.450 | -30,8% | 3,3% | 3,7% | 13 |
| 16 | Seat | 374.676 | 504.607 | -25,7% | 3,1% | 3,2% | 15 |
| 17 | Volvo | 290.280 | 338.721 | -14,3% | 2,4% | 2,2% | 18 |
| 18 | Nissan | 288.165 | 394.826 | -27,0% | 2,4% | 2,5% | 17 |
| 19 | Mini | 172.798 | 215.156 | -19,7% | 1,4% | 1,4% | 21 |
| 20 | Suzuki | 171.932 | 260.383 | -34,0% | 1,4% | 1,7% | 19 |
| 21 | Mazda | 149.794 | 249.371 | -39,9% | 1,3% | 1,6% | 20 |
| 22 | Jeep | 120.489 | 163.169 | -26,2% | 1,0% | 1,0% | 22 |
| 23 | Land Rover | 111.982 | 146.002 | -23,3% | 0,9% | 0,9% | 23 |
| 24 | Mitsubishi | 101.824 | 144.670 | -29,6% | 0,9% | 0,9% | 24 |
| 25 | Tesla | 97.957 | 111.728 | -12,3% | 0,8% | 0,7% | 27 |
| 26 | Honda | 81.247 | 123.277 | -34,1% | 0,7% | 0,8% | 25 |
| 27 | Porsche | 73.840 | 78.078 | -5,4% | 0,6% | 0,5% | 28 |
| 28 | Jaguar | 48.571 | 76.839 | -36,8% | 0,4% | 0,5% | 29 |
| 29 | Lexus | 47.085 | 55.801 | -15,6% | 0,4% | 0,4% | 31 |
| 30 | DS | 43.597 | 52.597 | -17,1% | 0,4% | 0,3% | 33 |
| 31 | Lancia | 43.077 | 58.830 | -26,8% | 0,4% | 0,4% | 30 |
| 32 | Alfa Romeo | 35.718 | 54.365 | -34,3% | 0,3% | 0,3% | 32 |
| 33 | Smart | 27.218 | 114.504 | -76,2% | 0,2% | 0,7% | 26 |
| 34 | SAIC MG | 22.225 | 14.061 | 58,1% | 0,2% | 0,1% | 35 |
| 35 | Subaru | 19.244 | 32.299 | -40,4% | 0,2% | 0,2% | 34 |
| 36 | SSangYong | 9.555 | 13.417 | -28,8% | 0,1% | 0,1% | 36 |
| 37 | Polestar | 8.811 | 0 | #DIV/0! | 0,1% | 0,0% | |
| 38 | Ferrari | 4.169 | 3.690 | 13,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 40 |
| 39 | Maserati | 3.435 | 5.666 | -39,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 37 |
| 40 | DR Motor | 3.422 | 3.469 | -1,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 41 |
| 41 | Bentley | 2.999 | 3.363 | -10,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 42 |
| 42 | Lada | 2.126 | 5.330 | -60,1% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 38 |
| 43 | Lamborghini | 1.996 | 2.166 | -7,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 46 |
| 44 | Aston Martin | 1.638 | 2.590 | -36,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 44 |
| 45 | Alpine | 1.343 | 4.376 | -69,3% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 39 |
| 46 | Mahindra | 1.263 | 1.075 | 17,5% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 48 |
| 47 | Dodge | 1.137 | 1.182 | -3,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 47 |
| 48 | Rolls Royce | 595 | 820 | -27,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 49 |
| 49 | Lotus | 560 | 568 | -1,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 51 |
| 50 | Aiways | 430 | 0 | #DIV/0! | 0,0% | 0,0% | |
| 51 | Great Wall | 370 | 110 | 236,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 52 |
| 52 | Infiniti | 326 | 2.763 | -88,2% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 43 |
| 53 | Chevrolet | 225 | 2.351 | -90,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 45 |
| 54 | Cadillac | 130 | 614 | -78,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 50 |
| 55 | Geely | 92 | 87 | 5,7% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 54 |
| 56 | Chrysler | 89 | 110 | -19,1% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 53 |
| 57 | Bugatti | 19 | 28 | -32,1% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 55 |
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