After four months of double or even triple digit sales increases for the European car market, August 2021 marks the second consecutive month of double digit declines at -17.1%. And compared to August 2019, the market is down 30.2%, which is the worst performance of this year so far. Of course, the major cause for this drop is the worldwide shortage of computer chips that has been plagueing automakers in just about every market and every automaker across the globe. At just 730,000 deliveries, this is the third-worst month for the European car market in decades, behind COVID-struck April and May 2020. The year-to-date figure now stands at 8.19 million deliveries, up 12.5% (but down 23.3% on the first eight months of 2019). Many European markets posted double-digit percentage drops in June. For the second month in a row, the largest car markets posted double-digit declines: Spain (-28.9%), Italy (-27.3%), Germany (-23%), United Kingdom (-22%) and France (-15%). On the other hand, we see increased sales some of the smaller markets like Norway (+52.1%), Romania (+44.6%), Iceland (+33.9%), Ireland (+24.9%), Latvia (+14.3%), Croatia (+8.3%) and Estonia (+3%).
Car models (hatchback, sedan, stationwagon, coupe and convertible) lose market share again at -21.9% but claw back to above 50% market share at 50.3%. Crossovers and SUVs outperform at -8.8% and drop from last month’s record market share to their second highest ever at 45.7%. MPV sales are down again at -44.4% to 3.9% share, which is the second lowest ever, after last January’s 3.8%.
The biggest news this month is that plug-in vehicles (EVs and PHEVs) outsell diesel passenger vehicles for the first time ever. Plug-in vehicles are up 61% in August to take their second-highest ever market share at 21% vs 20% for diesel cars. Gasoline powered cars are still way ahead with 56% market share, although this is declining too. This time last year, Europeans bought over 158,000 more diesels than they bought electric cars and plug-in hybrids, but in August 2021 plug-ins beat diesels by just over 10,000 deliveries. From January to August, 1.32 million EVs andP PHEVs have been sold in Europe, up from 158,300 in the same period in 2020.
August 2021 Manufacturers
Volkswagen Group continues to outperform the market at -12.2% and gains 1.6 percentage points of market share at 26.8%, although this is down on the previous two months. Stellantis takes a big hit with sales down 29.4% as its share drops by nearly 3 percentage points to 16.9% while Renault-Nissan is no longer the worst performing manufacturer in the top-7 as it was the previous months but still loses share with sales down 21.9%. Hyundai-Kia on the other hand is still the best performing manufacturer in the top-9 at +3.9% on last year. Toyota Motor Corp. moves ahead of BMW AG into fifth place thanks to sales almost stable at -0.8% while BMW AG is down 19.3%. Rival Daimler AG and Ford Motor Company are struck the hardest by the microchip crunch, each losing more than 35% of their sales on last year. Geely Group keeps its share stable, while Suzuki and Mazda are both up by nearly 12% and each gain half a percentage point of market share. Tesla Motors (+57.2%) and SAIC (+56.9%) are the best performing manufacturers in Europe this month. Subaru makes a turnaround from big losses in recent years to see its sales gain 1.9%.
| Group | aug-21 | aug-20 | change | 2021 share | 2020 share | YTD 2021 | YTD 2020 | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Group | 194.393 | 221.424 | -12,2% | 26,8% | 25,2% | 2.155.386 | 1.874.952 |
| 2 | Stellantis | 122.393 | 173.459 | -29,4% | 16,9% | 19,7% | 1.692.917 | 1.473.262 |
| 3 | Renault-Nissan | 89.093 | 114.049 | -21,9% | 12,3% | 13,0% | 942.382 | 994.538 |
| 4 | Hyundai-Kia | 75.271 | 72.456 | 3,9% | 10,4% | 8,2% | 646.173 | 524.592 |
| 5 | Toyota Motor | 51.281 | 51.699 | -0,8% | 7,1% | 5,9% | 521.042 | 417.849 |
| 6 | BMW AG | 50.889 | 63.040 | -19,3% | 7,0% | 7,2% | 585.652 | 512.919 |
| 7 | Daimler AG | 38.582 | 59.942 | -35,6% | 5,3% | 6,8% | 470.223 | 455.590 |
| 8 | Ford Motor Comp. | 35.073 | 55.315 | -36,6% | 4,8% | 6,3% | 408.767 | 434.582 |
| 9 | Geely Group | 15.244 | 18.084 | -15,7% | 2,1% | 2,1% | 215.284 | 173.548 |
| 10 | Suzuki | 14.376 | 12.872 | 11,7% | 2,0% | 1,5% | 134.960 | 99.461 |
| 11 | Mazda | 12.054 | 10.768 | 11,9% | 1,7% | 1,2% | 107.670 | 85.329 |
| 12 | Tesla Motors | 11.344 | 7.215 | 57,2% | 1,6% | 0,8% | 79.564 | 45.813 |
| 13 | Tata Motors | 5.284 | 7.677 | -31,2% | 0,7% | 0,9% | 103.779 | 97.166 |
| 14 | Honda | 4.880 | 6.331 | -22,9% | 0,7% | 0,7% | 46.213 | 48.237 |
| 15 | SAIC | 2.749 | 1.752 | 56,9% | 0,4% | 0,2% | 29.032 | 13.056 |
| 16 | Subaru Corp. | 1.358 | 1.333 | 1,9% | 0,2% | 0,2% | 13.339 | 11.315 |
| 17 | Mahindra & Mahindra | 894 | 1.063 | -15,9% | 0,1% | 0,1% | 6.915 | 7.138 |
| 18 | Aston Martin | 108 | 119 | -9,2% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 1.355 | 937 |
| 19 | General Motors | 41 | 37 | 10,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 427 | 162 |
August 2021 Brands
In the brands ranking, the top-5 brands all beat the market. Volkswagen gains share again while Toyota maintains the #2 position it reached last month, repeating its highest ranking in Europe ever, thanks to sales down just 1.8%. BMW keeps the podium 100% identical to last month at #3 and keeps its market share stable. As a result, it’s obviously once again the most popular luxury brand in Europe, but Audi is the best performer of the German Big-3 at -6.6% in 5th place but Mercedes-Benz is down 35.5% in 8th place. Coming from 12th place in June, Hyundai jumps 4 places for the second consecutive month to break into the European top-5 for the very first time and sets a ranking record at #4. It’s also the best performing brand in the top-15 at +10.2%. Hyundai is still in 12th place year-to-date.
Skoda slightly underperforms at -19.1% in 6th place and Renault continues to lose market share at -28.1%. Kia repeats the #10 place it took last month thanks to sales down just 3% but remains in 14th place YTD. Peugeot, the #2 brand just 3 months ago and still #2 year-to-date, drops out of the top-10 for the first time in modern history because Stellantis is hurt disproportionally by the semiconductor shortage, as opposed to Toyota and Hyundai-Kia which have been navigating the stormy waters relatively safely. Peugeot’s sister brand Opel/Vauxhall sees its sales drop 20.5% as it falls behind Dacia which outperforms at -3.3%. Seat (including Cupra) also gains market share at -10.1%, while Fiat and Citroën are stable at an unusually low 15th and 16th places. Suzuki jumps to 17th place, outselling Nissan in Europe for only the second time ever, after August 2019. Mazda is also closing in on Nissan at 20th place, while Tesla is the best performing brand in the top-30.
Jeep, Mitsubishi and Honda all lose more than 22% of their sales in August, while Porsche sees its sales drop by a third. Lexus on the other hand gains 17.3% while DS and Lancia also outperform the market and move ahead of Jaguar and Alfa Romeo. Smart is hit hard with sales down 38%, Polestar is the best performing brand in the top-40 at +59% while sister brand Lynk & Co jumps 4 places to #38. Alpine more than doubles up on last year.
| Brand | aug-21 | aug-20 | change | 2021 share | 2020 share | YTD rank | YTD 2021 | YTD 2020 | change | |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 85.514 | 96.020 | -10,9% | 15,5% | 13,8% | 1 | 937.530 | 818.762 | 14,5% |
| 2 | Toyota | 48.080 | 48.971 | -1,8% | 8,7% | 7,0% | 3 | 489.424 | 389.848 | 25,5% |
| 3 | BMW | 42.449 | 50.814 | -16,5% | 7,7% | 7,3% | 4 | 469.067 | 410.688 | 14,2% |
| 4 | Hyundai | 40.587 | 36.820 | 10,2% | 7,3% | 5,3% | 12 | 325.081 | 256.090 | 26,9% |
| 5 | Audi | 40.017 | 42.830 | -6,6% | 7,2% | 6,1% | 7 | 433.122 | 371.203 | 16,7% |
| 6 | Skoda | 39.199 | 48.445 | -19,1% | 7,1% | 7,0% | 8 | 432.926 | 398.138 | 8,7% |
| 7 | Renault | 38.675 | 53.768 | -28,1% | 7,0% | 7,7% | 5 | 456.855 | 501.715 | -8,9% |
| 8 | Mercedes-Benz | 37.312 | 57.892 | -35,5% | 6,7% | 8,3% | 6 | 447.378 | 444.223 | 0,7% |
| 9 | Ford | 35.073 | 55.315 | -36,6% | 6,3% | 7,9% | 9 | 408.765 | 434.580 | -5,9% |
| 10 | Kia | 34.579 | 35.636 | -3,0% | 6,2% | 5,1% | 14 | 320.736 | 268.502 | 19,5% |
| 11 | Peugeot | 33.342 | 54.379 | -38,7% | 6,0% | 7,8% | 2 | 515.460 | 459.578 | 12,2% |
| 12 | Dacia | 31.296 | 32.367 | -3,3% | 5,7% | 4,6% | 16 | 262.715 | 241.746 | 8,7% |
| 13 | Opel/Vauxhall | 26.455 | 33.261 | -20,5% | 4,8% | 4,8% | 10 | 345.577 | 296.225 | 16,7% |
| 14 | Seat & Cupra | 25.837 | 28.732 | -10,1% | 4,7% | 4,1% | 15 | 300.411 | 237.829 | 26,3% |
| 15 | Fiat | 25.447 | 33.295 | -23,6% | 4,6% | 4,8% | 11 | 336.770 | 284.768 | 18,3% |
| 16 | Citroën | 23.449 | 33.371 | -29,7% | 4,2% | 4,8% | 13 | 322.418 | 284.784 | 13,2% |
| 17 | Suzuki | 14.376 | 12.872 | 11,7% | 2,6% | 1,8% | 19 | 134.960 | 99.461 | 35,7% |
| 18 | Volvo | 13.453 | 17.227 | -21,9% | 2,4% | 2,5% | 17 | 202.694 | 172.209 | 17,7% |
| 19 | Nissan | 12.919 | 19.633 | -34,2% | 2,3% | 2,8% | 18 | 172.613 | 175.447 | -1,6% |
| 20 | Mazda | 12.054 | 10.768 | 11,9% | 2,2% | 1,5% | 21 | 107.670 | 85.329 | 26,2% |
| 21 | Tesla | 11.344 | 7.215 | 57,2% | 2,1% | 1,0% | 23 | 79.564 | 45.813 | 73,7% |
| 22 | Mini | 8.402 | 12.190 | -31,1% | 1,5% | 1,8% | 20 | 116.171 | 101.883 | 14,0% |
| 23 | Jeep | 7.783 | 10.825 | -28,1% | 1,4% | 1,6% | 22 | 91.536 | 68.951 | 32,8% |
| 24 | Mitsubishi | 5.819 | 7.805 | -25,4% | 1,1% | 1,1% | 25 | 47.853 | 72.677 | -34,2% |
| 25 | Honda | 4.880 | 6.331 | -22,9% | 0,9% | 0,9% | 27 | 46.213 | 48.237 | -4,2% |
| 26 | Land Rover | 3.711 | 5.182 | -28,4% | 0,7% | 0,7% | 24 | 76.031 | 67.980 | 11,8% |
| 27 | Porsche | 3.356 | 5.070 | -33,8% | 0,6% | 0,7% | 26 | 47.295 | 45.449 | 4,1% |
| 28 | Lexus | 3.201 | 2.728 | 17,3% | 0,6% | 0,4% | 29 | 31.618 | 28.001 | 12,9% |
| 29 | SAIC MG | 2.730 | 1.752 | 55,8% | 0,5% | 0,3% | 30 | 28.801 | 13.056 | 120,6% |
| 30 | DS | 2.155 | 2.419 | -10,9% | 0,4% | 0,3% | 31 | 28.089 | 27.502 | 2,1% |
| 31 | Lancia | 2.075 | 2.267 | -8,5% | 0,4% | 0,3% | 28 | 32.449 | 24.679 | 31,5% |
| 32 | Jaguar | 1.573 | 2.495 | -37,0% | 0,3% | 0,4% | 32 | 27.748 | 29.186 | -4,9% |
| 33 | Alfa Romeo | 1.409 | 2.802 | -49,7% | 0,3% | 0,4% | 34 | 17.272 | 20.352 | -15,1% |
| 34 | Subaru | 1.358 | 1.333 | 1,9% | 0,2% | 0,2% | 35 | 13.339 | 11.315 | 17,9% |
| 35 | Smart | 1.270 | 2.050 | -38,0% | 0,2% | 0,3% | 33 | 22.845 | 11.367 | 101,0% |
| 36 | Polestar | 1.237 | 778 | 59,0% | 0,2% | 0,1% | 36 | 10.890 | 960 | 1034,4% |
| 37 | SSangYong | 850 | 967 | -12,1% | 0,2% | 0,1% | 37 | 6.268 | 6.354 | -1,4% |
| 38 | Lynk & Co | 513 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% | 45 | 1.241 | 0 | New |
| 39 | Ferrari | 385 | 330 | 16,7% | 0,1% | 0,0% | 39 | 4.151 | 2.930 | 41,7% |
| 40 | DR Motor | 381 | 260 | 46,5% | 0,1% | 0,0% | 38 | 4.429 | 1.724 | 156,9% |
| 41 | Bentley | 200 | 179 | 11,7% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 41 | 1.783 | 1.873 | -4,8% |
| 42 | Lada | 198 | 392 | -49,5% | 0,0% | 0,1% | 46 | 1.058 | 1.833 | -42,3% |
| 43 | Maserati | 190 | 305 | -37,7% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 40 | 2.645 | 2.011 | 31,5% |
| 44 | Alpine | 186 | 82 | 126,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 44 | 1.283 | 798 | 60,8% |
| 45 | Lamborghini | 120 | 106 | 13,2% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 42 | 1.625 | 1.360 | 19,5% |
| 46 | Aston Martin | 108 | 119 | -9,2% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 43 | 1.355 | 937 | 44,6% |
| 47 | Genesis | 105 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 52 | 356 | 0 | New | |
| 48 | Aiways | 83 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 53 | 288 | 45 | 540,0% |
| 49 | Dodge | 75 | 92 | -18,5% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 48 | 633 | 635 | -0,3% |
| 50 | Great Wall | 57 | 24 | 137,5% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 49 | 588 | 236 | 149,2% |
| 51 | Mahindra | 44 | 96 | -54,2% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 47 | 647 | 784 | -17,5% |
| 52 | Lotus | 41 | 71 | -42,3% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 50 | 454 | 326 | 39,3% |
| 54 | Chevrolet | 38 | 31 | 22,6% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 55 | 277 | 120 | 130,8% |
| 53 | Rolls Royce | 38 | 36 | 5,6% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 51 | 414 | 348 | 19,0% |
| 55 | Maxus | 19 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 56 | 231 | 0 | New |
| 56 | Nio | 18 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 61 | 22 | 0 | New | |
| 57 | Xpeng | 17 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 54 | 282 | 86 | 227,9% |
| 58 | Chrysler | 12 | 7 | 71,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 58 | 60 | 58 | 3,4% |
| 59 | Seres | 6 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 60 | 35 | 0 | New |
| 60 | Bugatti | 2 | 2 | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 62 | 17 | 17 | 0,0% |
| 61 | JAC | 1 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 59 | 41 | 0 | New |
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