European car sales analysis August 2021 – brands

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.

Suzuki_Swift-auto-sales-statistics-EuropeSkoda 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