The European car market in February did not yet feel the influence of the COVID-19 outbreak, which resulted in social isolation and closures of factories and dealerships in the second half of March. Still, car sales were down slightly in the first two months of the year, with a 4.9% decline in February, to 1.07 million sales. That results in a 5.3% decline for the first two months combined, a figure that is set to nosedive next month, with most countries reporting sales declines of over 60% in March as a result of the lockdowns. April sales are unlikely to improve as the situation will remain the same, while anything beyond that is still uncertain. Back to February, where among the five largest markets, Germany recorded the most significant drop (-10.8%), followed by Italy (-8.8%), Spain (-6.0%), UK (-2.9%) and France (-2.7%).
Sales of car models (hatchback, sedan, stationwagon, coupe and convertible) were down 8.2% and their share of 54.3% is equal to January. Crossover and SUV sales were down just 0.9% and their share of 39.3% is down slightly on each of the last four months but still higher than any month before October 2019. MPV sales were down 22.2% but their share of 6.4% of the European car market is the slightly up on last month’s new record low. Within these figures, sales of EVs and PHEVs more than double (+111%) to nearly 69,000 sales, with PHEVs (-153%) outperforming EVs (+88%), giving plug-in vehicles a share of 6.5% of the European car market (3.7% for pure EVs alone).
February 2020 Manufacturers
In the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen Group continues to consolidate its leadership with a 3.9% decrease while its two closest rivals are both down by larger figures as PSA loses 6.3% and Renault-Nissan is down 11.1%. Thanks to a gain of 6.7%, Hyundai-Kia is back into fourth place ahead of Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (-7.3%) and last month’s #4 BMW AG, up 2.9%. Toyota Motor is once again the biggest gainer among major manufacturers with sales up 16.5%, but it’s back behind Daimler AG for the month, despite the latter’s -12% loss. Ford Motor Company (-17.5%) is down 3 places on January to 9th place as it suffers from its relatively high dependence on the UK market which is traditionally weak in February as March is the UK’s biggest month of the year due to the change of license plates. Expect Ford to rise up the charts again next month, but still a #9 spot is a shock for the American manufacturer in Europe. Geely is up 2% and rounds up the manufacturers top-10, as Suzuki and Mazda both decline by more than 30%. Tata Motors is down 11.9% and Honda loses over 21%. Tesla Motors is down 7.6% but its sales are traditionally heavily skewed towards the last month of the quarter so the EV brand should move up the ranking a few spots next month, especially when considering other brands will take big hits due to the COVID-19 closures. Subaru loses another 32% of its already low volume and is down to less than 1.600 monthly sales in Europe, ahead of only Mahindra & Mahindra (-12.9%), SAIC Motor (+91.1%), Aston Martin and GM, the latter two down to below 100 sales. Granted, SAIC Motor and Aston Martin are dependent on the UK market as well and should show much improved figures in March.
| Group | Feb-20 | Feb-19 | change | change | YTD 2020 | YTD 2019 | change | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Group | 266.902 | 277.593 | -3,9% | -10.691 | 561.025 | 563.787 | 12,1% |
| 2 | PSA | 182.315 | 194.481 | -6,3% | -12.166 | 360.605 | 395.985 | 4,5% |
| 3 | Renault-Nissan | 142.691 | 160.577 | -11,1% | -17.886 | 283.949 | 318.890 | 620,5% |
| 4 | Hyundai-Kia | 76.562 | 71.780 | 6,7% | 4.782 | 155.089 | 154.953 | 0,1% |
| 5 | Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles | 72.015 | 77.698 | -7,3% | -5.683 | 138.251 | 148.628 | 596,3% |
| 6 | BMW AG | 66.945 | 65.031 | 2,9% | 1.914 | 143.509 | 137.403 | -80,7% |
| 7 | Daimler AG | 59.645 | 67.805 | -12,0% | -8.160 | 126.592 | 141.103 | 623,6% |
| 8 | Toyota Motor | 59.571 | 51.137 | 16,5% | 8.434 | 130.343 | 114.391 | 13,9% |
| 9 | Ford Motor Comp. | 58.207 | 70.534 | -17,5% | -12.327 | 123.614 | 149.342 | -17,2% |
| 10 | Geely Group | 23.051 | 22.602 | 2,0% | 449 | 46.506 | 48.916 | -4,9% |
| 11 | Suzuki | 13.862 | 20.052 | -30,9% | -6.190 | 27.162 | 40.778 | 446,5% |
| 12 | Mazda | 11.228 | 16.219 | -30,8% | -4.991 | 24.312 | 34.733 | 649,7% |
| 13 | Tata Motors | 10.498 | 11.915 | -11,9% | -1.417 | 28.055 | 29.736 | -5,3% |
| 14 | Honda | 6.623 | 8.389 | -21,1% | -1.766 | 14.745 | 18.454 | 1107,5% |
| 15 | Tesla Motors | 3.933 | 4.255 | -7,6% | -322 | 6.002 | 5.059 | -95,6% |
| 16 | Subaru Corp. | 1.582 | 2.327 | -32,0% | -745 | 3.150 | 4.983 | -36,8% |
| 17 | Mahindra & Mahindra | 929 | 1.066 | -12,9% | -137 | 1.880 | 2.170 | -74,9% |
| 18 | SAIC | 856 | 448 | 91,1% | 408 | 2.456 | 1.202 | 104,3% |
| 19 | Aston Martin | 78 | 107 | -27,1% | -29 | 243 | 343 | -29,2% |
| 20 | General Motors | 10 | 204 | -95,1% | -194 | 26 | 509 | -94,9% |
February 2020 Brands
At brand level, market leader Volkswagen performs slightly worse than the overall market at -8.1% while Peugeot is in second place for the fourth time in fourteen months, after January and February 2019 and January 2020, and even outperforms the market this month at -3.3%. That leaves Renault in third place with sales down 6.8%, while Ford moves back ahead of Mercedes-Benz despite a shocking 17.5% loss for the American brand compared to -3.8% for the German luxury brand. Toyota is the big winner of the top-25 with a gain of 14.7% as its hybrid line-up is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the new stricter emissions standards. BMW and Skoda round up the top-8 while Fiat sees stable sales and moves back ahead of Audi. Citroën outsells its latest stablemate Opel/Vauxhall which is down to a record low ranking at #12. Kia sees double digit declines but stays just ahead of Seat and its sister brand Hyundai, while Dacia is in great difficulty as its hot streak of the past year has officially ended (-25.7%) and all of its gains have been wiped out, with sales returning to the level of February 2016. This has everything to do with the l0w-cost brand’s relatively low tech and high fuel consumptions which could result in heavy CO2 emissions fines for its parent company by the end of this year.
Nissan appears to have stabilized somewhat after a horrific year, outperforming the market for the second consecutive month at -3.9%. Volvo is up 2% and Mini is down just 3.5% as the electric version of its iconic model is ready to conquer Europe. Mitsubishi and Land Rover are stable and the former leapfrogs Jeep, down over 30%. Lancia is up slightly and stays just ahead of future stablemate DS which almost doubles up. Porsche benefits from updated versions of the 911 and Cayenne to set a 62.7% gain. Lexus also shows nice improvements at +51.5% and moves ahead of Jaguar which will rebound next month thanks to its dependence on the UK market. Alfa Romeo is down another 25% but Smart is the biggest loser of the top-45, down almost 80% now that it has been turned into an EV-only brand. In contrast, thanks to its expansion beyond just the UK and the launch of its first EV, SAIC MG almost doubles up, but its volume remains relatively low due to its UK dependence. Among upper luxury and exotic brands, Maserati is almost outsold by Ferrari, while Bentley closes in on Lamborghini, and Rolls Royce shows a nice 25% improvement.
| Brand | Feb-20 | Feb-19 | change | 2020 share | 2019 share | YTD rank | 2020 | 2019 | change | |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 118.257 | 128.659 | -8,1% | 11,2% | 11,4% | 1 | 249.474 | 265.569 | 561,8% |
| 2 | Peugeot | 76.504 | 79.092 | -3,3% | 7,2% | 7,0% | 2 | 151.395 | 159.806 | 561,7% |
| 3 | Renault | 73.364 | 78.689 | -6,8% | 6,9% | 7,0% | 3 | 140.572 | 149.865 | -6,2% |
| 4 | Ford | 58.207 | 70.534 | -17,5% | 5,5% | 6,3% | 5 | 123.614 | 149.342 | -85,9% |
| 5 | Mercedes-Benz | 58.165 | 60.473 | -3,8% | 5,5% | 5,4% | 4 | 124.232 | 126.486 | 1,9% |
| 6 | Toyota | 55.753 | 48.617 | 14,7% | 5,3% | 4,3% | 6 | 121.554 | 108.094 | -85,0% |
| 7 | BMW | 54.850 | 52.501 | 4,5% | 5,2% | 4,7% | 7 | 118.581 | 110.179 | -85,5% |
| 8 | Skoda | 54.816 | 56.669 | -3,3% | 5,2% | 5,0% | 8 | 113.717 | 112.506 | 1,1% |
| 9 | Fiat | 51.284 | 50.998 | 0,6% | 4,8% | 4,5% | 12 | 96.527 | 97.574 | -88,3% |
| 10 | Audi | 50.865 | 53.961 | -5,7% | 4,8% | 4,8% | 9 | 109.051 | 107.467 | 1,5% |
| 11 | Citroën | 50.128 | 51.993 | -3,6% | 4,7% | 4,6% | 11 | 97.479 | 102.086 | -86,0% |
| 12 | Opel/Vauxhall | 49.957 | 60.458 | -17,4% | 4,7% | 5,4% | 10 | 101.052 | 127.869 | 278,1% |
| 13 | Kia | 38.795 | 35.207 | 10,2% | 3,7% | 3,1% | 15 | 77.044 | 75.660 | -85,5% |
| 14 | Seat | 37.827 | 35.084 | 7,8% | 3,6% | 3,1% | 14 | 77.534 | 71.181 | 8,9% |
| 15 | Hyundai | 37.767 | 36.573 | 3,3% | 3,6% | 3,3% | 13 | 78.045 | 79.293 | -84,0% |
| 16 | Dacia | 30.089 | 40.521 | -25,7% | 2,8% | 3,6% | 16 | 61.341 | 83.511 | -76,9% |
| 17 | Nissan | 28.028 | 29.159 | -3,9% | 2,6% | 2,6% | 17 | 59.275 | 61.097 | -87,8% |
| 18 | Volvo | 23.031 | 22.573 | 2,0% | 2,2% | 2,0% | 18 | 46.466 | 48.856 | -81,1% |
| 19 | Suzuki | 13.862 | 20.052 | -30,9% | 1,3% | 1,8% | 19 | 27.162 | 40.778 | -33,4% |
| 20 | Mini | 12.055 | 12.498 | -3,5% | 1,1% | 1,1% | 20 | 24.827 | 27.105 | 820,0% |
| 21 | Mazda | 11.228 | 16.219 | -30,8% | 1,1% | 1,4% | 21 | 24.312 | 34.733 | -30,0% |
| 22 | Mitsubishi | 10.910 | 11.031 | -1,1% | 1,0% | 1,0% | 22 | 22.142 | 22.160 | -0,1% |
| 23 | Jeep | 10.704 | 15.482 | -30,9% | 1,0% | 1,4% | 23 | 21.249 | 27.413 | -22,5% |
| 24 | Land Rover | 7.106 | 7.188 | -1,1% | 0,7% | 0,6% | 24 | 19.476 | 19.485 | 0,0% |
| 25 | Honda | 6.623 | 8.389 | -21,1% | 0,6% | 0,7% | 25 | 14.745 | 18.454 | -20,1% |
| 26 | Lancia | 5.950 | 5.825 | 2,1% | 0,6% | 0,5% | 26 | 12.204 | 12.439 | -1,9% |
| 27 | DS | 5.726 | 2.938 | 94,9% | 0,5% | 0,3% | 27 | 10.679 | 6.224 | -84,4% |
| 28 | Porsche | 4.681 | 2.877 | 62,7% | 0,4% | 0,3% | 28 | 10.177 | 6.223 | 63,5% |
| 29 | Tesla | 3.933 | 4.255 | -7,6% | 0,4% | 0,4% | 32 | 6.002 | 5.059 | 18,6% |
| 30 | Lexus | 3.818 | 2.520 | 51,5% | 0,4% | 0,2% | 29 | 8.789 | 6.297 | 39,6% |
| 31 | Jaguar | 3.392 | 4.727 | -28,2% | 0,3% | 0,4% | 30 | 8.579 | 10.251 | -89,7% |
| 32 | Alfa Romeo | 3.391 | 4.537 | -25,3% | 0,3% | 0,4% | 31 | 6.766 | 9.497 | -28,8% |
| 33 | Subaru | 1.582 | 2.327 | -32,0% | 0,1% | 0,2% | 33 | 3.150 | 4.983 | -36,8% |
| 34 | Smart | 1.480 | 7.332 | -79,8% | 0,1% | 0,7% | 35 | 2.360 | 14.617 | -22,3% |
| 35 | SAIC MG | 856 | 448 | 91,1% | 0,1% | 0,0% | 34 | 2.456 | 1.202 | 104,3% |
| 36 | SSangYong | 770 | 953 | -19,2% | 0,1% | 0,1% | 36 | 1.564 | 1.971 | -20,6% |
| 37 | Maserati | 270 | 468 | -42,3% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 37 | 623 | 949 | -34,4% |
| 38 | Ferrari | 251 | 192 | 30,7% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 39 | 592 | 437 | -92,7% |
| 39 | DR Motor | 247 | 280 | -11,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 40 | 560 | 524 | 381,3% |
| 40 | Lada | 234 | 499 | -53,1% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 41 | 450 | 842 | -46,6% |
| 41 | Lamborghini | 200 | 178 | 12,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 42 | 380 | 359 | 5,8% |
| 42 | Bentley | 199 | 138 | 44,2% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 38 | 601 | 441 | -82,2% |
| 43 | Mahindra | 159 | 113 | 40,7% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 43 | 316 | 199 | 1428,1% |
| 44 | Aston Martin | 78 | 107 | -27,1% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 44 | 243 | 343 | -29,2% |
| 45 | Dodge | 77 | 85 | -9,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 46 | 136 | 151 | -9,9% |
| 46 | Infiniti | 66 | 328 | -79,9% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 45 | 169 | 635 | -100,0% |
| 47 | Alpine | 61 | 350 | -82,6% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 47 | 128 | 780 | 6300,0% |
| 48 | Rolls Royce | 40 | 32 | 25,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 48 | 101 | 119 | -15,1% |
| 49 | Lotus | 19 | 20 | -5,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 49 | 37 | 49 | -24,5% |
| 50 | Great Wall | 12 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 50 | 32 | 0 | New |
| 51 | Chrysler | 9 | 15 | -40,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 52 | 15 | 28 | -46,4% |
| 52 | Chevrolet | 6 | 153 | -96,1% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 51 | 21 | 320 | -91,3% |
| 53 | Cadillac | 4 | 49 | -91,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 53 | 5 | 187 | -97,3% |
| 54 | Bugatti | 3 | 1 | 200,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 54 | 5 | 4 | 25,0% |
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