European car sales analysis April 2021 – brands

The recovery of the European car market continues in April 2021 with sales triple those of the same month last year, which was the slowest sales month in modern history due to COVID-19 related restrictions in many countries. But when compared to April 2019, sales are still down 22.8% or more than 300,000 units. Many European markets posted double-, triple- or even quadruple-digit percentage gains in April. Italy (+3,276.8%) and the UK (+3,176.6%) recorded the biggest uplift of the major markets, followed by Spain (+1,787.9%). France (+568.8%) and Germany (+90.0%) also showed strong gains compared to last year. When compared to April 2019, only Norway is in the positive at +17%, with Denmark (-4%), Estonia (-5.5%) and Finland (-9.3%) are the only markets showing single digit declines.

Sales of car models (hatchback, sedan, stationwagon, coupe and convertible) lose share at +190.2% to drop to their lowest share ever at 51.4%. Meanwhile, crossover and SUV outperform at +250.2% to set a new market share record for the third time in four months, at 44.2% share. MPV sales are up just 81.7% to 4.4% share. Within these figures, EV and PHEV jumped fivefold year-on-year to over 159,000 deliveries for a 15% market share

April 2021 Manufacturers

Volkswagen Group loses share while Stellantis is the best performing manufacturer in the top-12 at +267.4%. Still, just over 50,000 sales separate Europe’s two best selling automakers. Renault-Nissan is the worst performing manufacturer in the top-8 at +151.9%, loses 2.1 percentage points of share and sells less than half the volume of Stellantis. Hyundai-Kia jumps BMW AG to claim fourth place, as BMW is up just 156% which means it loses 1.3 percentage points of share. Daimler AG and Toyota Motor both gain share, as the latter passes Ford which is down to 8th place. Geely Group with its Volvo brand underperforms, but that’s also because it was less affected a year ago. For a change, Honda actually gains market share in Europe, and is the second-best performing manufacturer after SAIC. Subaru on the other hand continues to slide into irrelevance in Europe, with less than 1,700 sales.

Group mrt-21 mrt-20 change 2021 share 2020 share YTD 2021 YTD 2020 change
1 Volkswagen Group 279.450 97.675 186,1% 26,8% 28,3% 1.046.479 892.380 17,3%
2 Stellantis 229.205 62.384 267,4% 22,0% 18,1% 896.169 682.384 31,3%
3 Renault-Nissan 113.511 45.058 151,9% 10,9% 13,0% 468.485 432.683 8,3%
4 Hyundai-Kia 76.233 23.138 229,5% 7,3% 6,7% 288.556 244.864 17,8%
5 BMW AG 75.846 29.633 156,0% 7,3% 8,6% 299.526 245.611 22,0%
6 Daimler AG 66.319 20.827 218,4% 6,4% 6,0% 256.903 206.939 24,1%
7 Toyota Motor 63.997 18.186 251,9% 6,1% 5,3% 256.767 201.242 27,6%
8 Ford Motor Comp. 54.892 18.827 191,6% 5,3% 5,5% 220.636 194.506 13,4%
9 Geely Group 26.692 10.913 144,6% 2,6% 3,2% 118.800 81.355 46,0%
10 Suzuki 16.170 4.754 240,1% 1,6% 1,4% 63.699 43.854 45,3%
11 Mazda 13.940 4.004 248,2% 1,3% 1,2% 49.110 39.727 23,6%
12 Tata Motors 13.755 3.967 246,7% 1,3% 1,1% 52.323 54.858 -4,6%
13 Honda 6.121 1.437 326,0% 0,6% 0,4% 20.448 23.836 -14,2%
14 SAIC 2.336 178 1212,4% 0,2% 0,1% 10.858 6.026 80,2%
15 Subaru Corp. 1.649 777 112,2% 0,2% 0,2% 6.458 5.328 21,2%
16 Tesla Motors 1.619 3.246 -50,1% 0,2% 0,9% 32.720 26.496 23,5%
17 Mahindra & Mahindra 808 294 174,8% 0,1% 0,1% 3.260 3.040 7,2%
18 Aston Martin 157 41 282,9% 0,0% 0,0% 719 483 48,9%
19 General Motors 46 15 206,7% 0,0% 0,0% 249 61 308,2%

April 2021 Brands

In the brands ranking, Volkswagen loses share while Peugeot outperforms in second place. Mercedes-Benz and Toyota complete the top-4, outselling BMW and Renault. Skoda also underperforms in 8th place, while Audi is doing exceptionally well in 6th. Ford is down to 9th, with Opel/Vauxhall completing the top-10 justa head of Fiat. Dacia struggles, falling further behind Seat and Hyundai, but Nissan in 18th place just before Suzuki is long overdue for some fresh product with the new generations Qashqai and X-Trail, as well as the crossover EV Ariya. Jeep has a strong month at #22 ahead of Land Rover, while Honda outsells Mitsubishi for the first time this year. Jaguar is back ahead of Lexus, with DS close behind. Polestar outsells Subaru and Tesla, but SAIC MG remains the best selling Chinese brand while its startup EV rivals are still in their early days and available in just a handful of countries. Aiways delivers 27 units of its U5 EV crossover in Belgium, Denmark, France and Switzerland, while Xpeng delivers 26 G3 EV crossovers in Norway, Maxus delivers 22 Euniq EV MPVs in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, while Nio just landed in Norway and delivered its first 2 ES8 EV crossovers in preparation for its official launch in September.

Brand mrt-21 mrt-20 change 2021 share 2020 share YTD rank YTD 2021 YTD 2020 change
1 Volkswagen 121.180 41.955 188,8% 11,6% 12,2% 1 450.655 389.860 15,6%
2 Peugeot 71.207 19.509 265,0% 6,8% 5,7% 2 286.172 207.698 37,8%
3 Mercedes-Benz 62.829 20.366 208,5% 6,0% 5,9% 3 244.056 202.955 20,3%
4 Toyota 60.448 17.383 247,7% 5,8% 5,0% 4 241.339 187.132 29,0%
5 BMW 59.903 24.961 140,0% 5,7% 7,2% 5 239.460 198.547 20,6%
6 Audi 57.270 18.139 215,7% 5,5% 5,3% 9 212.301 178.518 18,9%
7 Renault 56.949 22.998 147,6% 5,5% 6,7% 6 229.402 207.001 10,8%
8 Skoda 56.205 24.871 126,0% 5,4% 7,2% 8 215.015 186.656 15,2%
9 Ford 54.891 18.827 191,6% 5,3% 5,5% 7 220.634 194.504 13,4%
10 Opel/Vauxhall 46.787 15.020 211,5% 4,5% 4,4% 10 179.572 149.529 20,1%
11 Fiat 44.659 9.986 347,2% 4,3% 2,9% 12 171.039 126.259 35,5%
12 Citroën 43.456 13.133 230,9% 4,2% 3,8% 11 171.353 132.394 29,4%
13 Kia 40.189 12.083 232,6% 3,8% 3,5% 13 147.628 127.334 15,9%
14 Seat 38.293 9.630 297,6% 3,7% 2,8% 14 142.135 116.663 21,8%
15 Hyundai 36.014 11.055 225,8% 3,4% 3,2% 15 140.801 117.530 19,8%
16 Dacia 29.637 11.907 148,9% 2,8% 3,4% 16 118.065 95.350 23,8%
17 Volvo 24.908 10.890 128,7% 2,4% 3,2% 17 112.782 81.197 38,9%
18 Nissan 20.984 5.763 264,1% 2,0% 1,7% 18 98.563 92.168 6,9%
19 Suzuki 16.170 4.754 240,1% 1,5% 1,4% 19 63.699 43.854 45,3%
20 Mini 15.888 4.653 241,5% 1,5% 1,3% 20 59.828 46.861 27,7%
21 Mazda 13.940 4.004 248,2% 1,3% 1,2% 21 49.110 39.727 23,6%
22 Jeep 11.934 2.008 494,3% 1,1% 0,6% 22 46.144 27.542 67,5%
23 Land Rover 9.323 2.456 279,6% 0,9% 0,7% 23 38.018 38.252 -0,6%
24 Honda 6.121 1.437 326,0% 0,6% 0,4% 27 20.448 23.836 -14,2%
25 Porsche 5.981 2.854 109,6% 0,6% 0,8% 25 24.395 18.881 29,2%
26 Mitsubishi 5.622 4.204 33,7% 0,5% 1,2% 26 21.457 36.801 -41,7%
27 Lancia 5.202 110 4629,1% 0,5% 0,0% 28 18.234 12.826 42,2%
28 Jaguar 4.432 1.511 193,3% 0,4% 0,4% 30 14.305 16.606 -13,9%
29 Lexus 3.549 803 342,0% 0,3% 0,2% 29 15.428 14.110 9,3%
30 DS 3.506 1.369 156,1% 0,3% 0,4% 31 13.462 14.486 -7,1%
31 Smart 3.490 461 657,0% 0,3% 0,1% 32 12.847 3.984 222,5%
32 SAIC MG 2.314 178 1200,0% 0,2% 0,1% 33 10.707 6.026 77,7%
33 Alfa Romeo 2.054 807 154,5% 0,2% 0,2% 34 8.555 8.898 -3,9%
34 Polestar 1.731 9 19133,3% 0,2% 0,0% 36 5.813 38 15197,4%
35 Subaru 1.649 777 112,2% 0,2% 0,2% 35 6.458 5.328 21,2%
36 Tesla 1.619 3.246 -50,1% 0,2% 0,9% 24 32.720 26.496 23,5%
37 Ferrari 1.014 241 320,7% 0,1% 0,1% 38 2.275 1.282 77,5%
38 SSangYong 696 289 140,8% 0,1% 0,1% 37 2.923 2.656 10,1%
39 DR Motor 567 15 3680,0% 0,1% 0,0% 39 2.087 661 215,7%
40 Maserati 295 72 309,7% 0,0% 0,0% 40 1.336 883 51,3%
41 Lamborghini 246 106 132,1% 0,0% 0,0% 42 845 657 28,6%
42 Bentley 218 101 115,8% 0,0% 0,0% 41 896 1.001 -10,5%
43 Lada 167 124 34,7% 0,0% 0,0% 45 472 758 -37,7%
44 Aston Martin 157 41 282,9% 0,0% 0,0% 43 719 483 48,9%
45 Alpine 152 37 310,8% 0,0% 0,0% 44 523 292 79,1%
46 Mahindra 112 5 2140,0% 0,0% 0,0% 46 337 384 -12,2%
47 Dodge 102 59 72,9% 0,0% 0,0% 48 273 264 3,4%
48 Great Wall 76 3 2433,3% 0,0% 0,0% 47 275 53 418,9%
49 Rolls Royce 55 19 189,5% 0,0% 0,0% 49 238 203 17,2%
50 Lotus 52 14 271,4% 0,0% 0,0% 50 200 117 70,9%
51 Chevrolet 45 11 309,1% 0,0% 0,0% 55 104 47 121,3%
52 Genesis 30 0 New 0,0% 0,0% 54 127 0 New
53 Aiways 27 0 New 0,0% 0,0% 56 96 0 New
54 Xpeng 26 0 New 0,0% 0,0% 52 151 0 New
55 Maxus 22 0 New 0,0% 0,0% 51 151 0 New
56 Bugatti 4 0 New 0,0% 0,0% 58 10 6 66,7%
57 Chrysler 2 3 -33,3% 0,0% 0,0% 57 22 25 -12,0%
58 Nio 2 0 New 0,0% 0,0% 0 2 0 New
59 Geely 1 0 New 0,0% 0,0% 59 5 3 66,7%

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

  1. “Renault-Nissan….(….)….sells less than half the volume of Stellantis.”

    Not worth mentioning in my opinion, because Stellantis, being a new company, consists of way more brands than Renault-Nissan.

    Why are you showing a picture of a Cupra model while this brand is not part of the list?

    Sorry to say and I don’t want to offend Bart (he’s good!), but CSB is doing weird things these days. Too much focus on data leading to a lack of meaningful and up-to-date articles. I miss the non-sales related content. That’s what made CSB a blog.

  2. Interesting observations Losange.
    The sentence “Renault-Nissan….(….)….sells less than half the volume of Stellantis.” surely is meaningless. Looks like a haphazardly applied filler line. Like “my dad is older than me”.

    My main ‘concern’ is you will is the deferred and therefore slightly ‘obsolete’ publication of European sales data.
    In addition to that, I sorely miss the historical sale data one we once could find in the box on the right.

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