European car sales analysis August 2020 – brands

The European passenger car market is back into a double digit decline enjoys in August 2020, after the market seemed to have stabilized in July. A 15.1% loss makes August the slowest non-lockdown month in 2020 in absolute terms, with 887,000 deliveries. The Year-to-Date figure improves only slightly to -31.3% with 7.33 million deliveries. Cyprus (+14.1%) was the only country in the region to register more sales than in August 2019. Among the five major European markets, Italy performed best, with a slight drop of 0.4%, while the strongest declines were seen in Germany (-20%) and France (-19.8%).

Sales of car models (hatchback, sedan, stationwagon, coupe and convertible) are down 18% to 53.2% share, the lowest ever after last December. Crossover and SUV sales are down 11.3% to top 41% share, down slightly on last month’s record, and MPV sales are down 34.1% to 5.8% share. Within these figures, EVs and PHEVs are up 171% to around 97,000 registrations in August, EVs were up 112% to 50,232 deliveries and PHEVs were up 285% to just under 47,000 deliveries. The share of plug-in cars stood at 11% in August (5.7% for pure EVs alone). The Year-To-Date share of EVs and PHEVs now stands at 8.4% (4.5% for EVs).

August 2020 Manufacturers

Kia_Niro-auto-sales-statistics-EuropeThe top-3 manufacturers all lose market share in August, with PSA down 18% in 2nd place, leader VW Group down 23.7% and Renault-Nissan down 24.1%. In contrast, Hyundai-Kia is up 4.6% and BMW AG is the biggest winner among major manufacturers at +11.6%, as both leapfrog Daimler AG, down 18.7%. Ford Motor Company drops behind BMW in the Year-To-Date ranking as well, and feels Daimler breathing down its neck as well. Toyota Motor, Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles and Geely Group see single digit declines and therefore gain market share, while Suzuki sees its sales drop to less than half of last year’s figures, Subaru delivers 43.2% fewer vehicles and Mazda and Honda deliveries decline by more than a quarter. Tata Motors also loses market share, but Tesla Motors is back in the black with a 9.4% gain and SAIC Motor almost triples its deliveries.

Group Aug-20 Aug-19 change YTD 2020 YTD 2019 change
1 Volkswagen Group 221.416 290.014 -23,7% 1.874.676 2.658.135 -29,5%
2 PSA 123.430 150.489 -18,0% 1.068.089 1.729.266 -38,2%
3 Renault-Nissan 114.049 150.358 -24,1% 994.538 1.503.654 -33,9%
4 Hyundai-Kia 72.456 69.247 4,6% 524.592 697.881 -24,8%
5 BMW AG 63.040 56.508 11,6% 512.919 669.022 -23,3%
6 Daimler AG 58.875 72.438 -18,7% 443.472 662.162 -33,0%
7 Ford Motor Comp. 55.315 60.340 -8,3% 434.582 668.245 -35,0%
8 Toyota Motor 51.699 53.061 -2,6% 417.849 529.363 -21,1%
9 Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles 50.029 50.982 -1,9% 405.173 653.627 -38,0%
10 Geely Group 18.078 18.601 -2,8% 173.509 218.579 -20,6%
11 Suzuki 12.872 27.354 -52,9% 99.461 186.809 -46,8%
12 Mazda 10.768 14.718 -26,8% 85.329 154.404 -44,7%
13 Tata Motors 7.677 9.243 -16,9% 97.166 148.742 -34,7%
14 Tesla Motors 7.215 6.594 9,4% 45.813 56.429 -18,8%
15 Honda 6.331 8.655 -26,9% 48.245 85.024 -43,3%
16 SAIC 1.752 663 164,3% 12.256 7.991 53,4%
17 Subaru Corp. 1.333 2.346 -43,2% 11.315 19.576 -42,2%
18 Mahindra & Mahindra 1.063 995 6,8% 7.138 9.783 -27,0%
19 Aston Martin 94 133 -29,3% 912 1.705 -46,5%
20 General Motors 37 365 -89,9% 162 2.711 -94,0%

August 2020 Brands

In the brands ranking, Volkswagen is the biggest loser in the top-8 with a 25.7% decline for over 30,000 lost sales and sister brand Audi is the biggest loser in the top-13 with a 26.5% decline. Mercedes-Benz is in 2nd place for the third time ever, after last March and September 2019, ahead of Ford which is back in the top-3 for the first time in 2020. Only 3,000 sales separate the #2 and the #5, with Peugeot just ahead of Renault. BMW is the big winner in the top-10 with sales up 12.2%, and the only brand in the black. Toyota is down just 1.7% and Hyundai is down 4.2% as the next best performers in the top-10. This is the first time since last September that Hyundai is in the monthly top-10 in Europe. Sister brand Kia is up 15.7%, passing Citroën, Fiat and Opel/Vauxhall to jump into 11th place for the second consecutive month. Fiat sales are actually stable at +1.2% while Opel/Vauxhall, Dacia and Mitsubishi lose more than 36%, Seat, Jaguar and DS all lose around 29%, but Smart is the biggest loser at -83.4%, followed by Alpine at -82.9% and DR Motor at -71.9%. Polestar is up to #37 behind SsangYong and ahead of Lada, Ferrari and Maserati.

Brand Aug-20 Aug-19 change 2020 share YTD rank 2020 change
1 Volkswagen 96.020 129.214 -25,7% 10,9% 1 818.494 -32,2%
2 Mercedes-Benz 56.825 60.099 -5,4% 6,5% 5 432.105 -26,6%
3 Ford 55.315 60.338 -8,3% 6,3% 4 434.580 -35,0%
4 Peugeot 54.379 57.031 -4,7% 6,2% 3 459.578 -30,9%
5 Renault 53.768 61.387 -12,4% 6,1% 2 501.715 -29,8%
6 BMW 50.814 45.281 12,2% 5,8% 6 410.688 -23,0%
7 Toyota 48.971 49.828 -1,7% 5,6% 8 389.848 -21,2%
8 Skoda 48.445 56.771 -14,7% 5,5% 7 398.138 -21,7%
9 Audi 42.830 58.273 -26,5% 4,9% 9 371.203 -30,4%
10 Hyundai 36.820 38.454 -4,2% 4,2% 14 256.090 -29,6%
11 Kia 35.636 30.793 15,7% 4,1% 13 268.502 -19,6%
12 Citroën 33.371 37.331 -10,6% 3,8% 11 284.784 -35,5%
13 Fiat 33.295 32.912 1,2% 3,8% 12 284.768 -36,5%
14 Opel/Vauxhall 33.261 52.674 -36,9% 3,8% 10 296.225 -49,8%
15 Dacia 32.367 50.974 -36,5% 3,7% 15 241.746 -40,2%
16 Seat 28.724 40.357 -28,8% 3,3% 16 237.821 -33,6%
17 Nissan 19.633 23.616 -16,9% 2,2% 17 175.447 -35,6%
18 Volvo 17.227 18.556 -7,2% 2,0% 18 172.209 -21,1%
19 Suzuki 12.872 27.354 -52,9% 1,5% 20 99.461 -46,8%
20 Mini 12.190 11.194 8,9% 1,4% 19 101.883 -24,5%
21 Jeep 10.825 11.710 -7,6% 1,2% 23 68.951 -41,3%
22 Mazda 10.768 14.718 -26,8% 1,2% 21 85.329 -44,7%
23 Mitsubishi 7.805 12.693 -38,5% 0,9% 22 72.677 -28,8%
24 Tesla 7.215 6.594 9,4% 0,8% 26 45.813 -18,8%
25 Honda 6.331 8.655 -26,9% 0,7% 25 48.245 -43,3%
26 Land Rover 5.182 5.701 -9,1% 0,6% 24 67.980 -29,0%
27 Porsche 5.070 5.034 0,7% 0,6% 27 45.449 -3,2%
28 Alfa Romeo 2.802 3.068 -8,7% 0,3% 32 20.352 -46,0%
29 Lexus 2.728 3.233 -15,6% 0,3% 29 28.001 -19,5%
30 Jaguar 2.495 3.542 -29,6% 0,3% 28 29.186 -45,0%
31 DS 2.419 3.453 -29,9% 0,3% 30 27.502 -17,8%
32 Lancia 2.267 2.509 -9,6% 0,3% 31 24.679 -40,6%
33 Smart 2.050 12.339 -83,4% 0,2% 34 11.367 -84,5%
34 SAIC MG 1.752 663 164,3% 0,2% 33 12.256 53,4%
35 Subaru 1.333 2.346 -43,2% 0,2% 35 11.315 -42,2%
36 SSangYong 967 898 7,7% 0,1% 36 6.354 -29,1%
37 Polestar 778 0 New 0,1% 43 950 New
38 Lada 392 967 -59,5% 0,0% 40 1.833 -55,5%
39 Ferrari 330 242 36,4% 0,0% 37 2.930 7,3%
40 Maserati 305 341 -10,6% 0,0% 38 2.011 -51,0%
41 DR Motor 260 924 -71,9% 0,0% 41 1.724 -40,0%
42 Bentley 179 205 -12,7% 0,0% 39 1.873 -18,1%
43 Lamborghini 106 144 -26,4% 0,0% 42 1.360 -19,0%
44 Mahindra 96 97 -1,0% 0,0% 46 784 -4,7%
45 Aston Martin 94 133 -29,3% 0,0% 44 912 -46,5%
46 Dodge 92 96 -4,2% 0,0% 47 635 -25,7%
47 Alpine 82 479 -82,9% 0,0% 45 798 -76,9%
48 Lotus 65 40 62,5% 0,0% 50 297 -22,0%
49 Rolls Royce 36 33 9,1% 0,0% 48 348 -28,2%
50 Chevrolet 31 274 -88,7% 0,0% 52 120 -94,4%
51 Great Wall 24 0 +++ 0,0% 51 236 475,6%
52 Geely 8 5 60,0% 0,0% 54 53 -27,4%
53 Chrysler 7 4 75,0% 0,0% 53 58 -32,6%
54 Cadillac 6 91 -93,4% 0,0% 55 38 -93,3%
55 Infiniti 2 242 -99,2% 0,0% 49 322 -85,8%
56 Bugatti 2 3 -33,3% 0,0% 56 17 -19,0%

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