With close to 1,18 million car sales, the European car market is up 9,4% in July, which is extra impressive considering I credited pre-registrations for the 14,5% increase in June, which would’ve depressed the July volume of the brands who had tried to artificially improve their first-half results. The year-to-date figure now stands at 8,55 million sales, an increase of 8,19% on the same period last year.
As has almost become a tradition, VW Group leads the way with the biggest growth in absolute terms, but Renault-Nissan has lost some of its mojo, perhaps as a result of the aforementioned pre-registrations in June. Daimler, PSA and also Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles show increases of more than 10.000 units compared to July 2014, while there’s only one manufacturer to lose sales: DRB-Hicom as a result of big fluctuations in Lotus deliveries: up 38% last month, down 26% this month.
In relative terms, Tesla is the fastest growing brand in Europe, with sales up 265,8% to over 1.000 sales. The brand starts to become less dependent on Norway and The Netherlands only as the Model S gains traction in other European countries as well. Mahindra & Mahindra thanks to SSangYong and AvtoVAZ thanks to (surprisingly) Lada are also growing fast.
Looking at the brand level, the big surprise (or disappointment) is Dacia, earlier this year the fastest growing brand, but now the brand that loses the most volume of them all. The Duster is to blame for a large part of the demise, as the small crossover enjoyed a record month exactly one year ago. DS is also again among the biggest losers, as is naturally Chevrolet. The biggest winners are Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Fiat, where the 500X makes up for the entire gain. Mini goes from being one of the fastest growing brands in the first half to just 3,7% increase in July, as the new hardtop is now officially one year old.
Renault drops from second-placed brand ahead of Ford in June to fourth place behind Opel/Vauxhall in July, and even feels Peugeot and Audi breathing down its neck. Toyota is back ahead of Nissan after two months behind its Japanese rival, but Nissan is still the best selling Asian brand over the full seven months. Mercedes-Benz and BMW have been leapfrogging each other for the past seven months now, with the former ahead year-to-date.
And look at Bugatti: 8 cars sold in a single month! Now 8 cars may not sound that impressive at first thought, but consider this: the Veyron, of which the last 50 are being built this year, handily costs over one million euros, and 8 cars in a single month is more than double its previous monthly record of 3 cars. In fact, it’s almost half of its record sales for a full year, which was 17 sales in 2009. Until June Bugatti had sold only 3 cars this year, and all of a sudden 8 Bugatti‘s are registered in July. That’s what I’d call a freak event.
Tesla and Jeep also belong to the fastest growing brands in Europe, while Chevrolet, Great Wall and Tata are the fastest shrinking brands, as they were in June as well. I did see quite a few Great Wall Hover SUVs when I was in Milan, Italy last week, but those are all at least 3 years old.
July winners and losers
| Manufacturer biggest volume increase | Volkswagen Group | 22.929 | Manufacturer biggest volume lost | DRB-Hicom (Proton / Lotus) | -26 | |
| Daimler AG | 11.533 | |||||
| PSA | 10.954 | |||||
| Manufacturer biggest % increase | Tesla Motors | 265,8% | Manufacturer biggest % lost | DRB-Hicom (Proton / Lotus) | -26,3% | |
| Mahindra & Mahindra | 123,0% | |||||
| AvtoVAZ (Lada) | 50,5% | |||||
| Brand biggest volume increase | Volkswagen | 12.012 | Brand biggest volume lost | Dacia | -1.620 | |
| Mercedes-Benz | 7.538 | DS | -1.149 | |||
| Fiat | 6.962 | Chevrolet | -882 | |||
| Brand biggest % increase | Bugatti | +++ | Brand biggest % lost | Chevrolet | -83,0% | |
| Tesla | 265,8% | Great Wall | -56,7% | |||
| Jeep | 142,1% | Tata | -40,6% |
January – July 2015 sales
Year-to-date, the rankings haven’t changed much, although Volkswagen Group greatly extends its lead over Renault–Nissan as the manufacturer that’s won the most additional volume this year. And despite enjoying its second month in positive territory this year, Honda dips below General Motors to carry the red lantern as the biggest loser of 2015 so far. These two are the only manufacturers to lose sales in the first seven months, as Aston Martin has crawled back into the positive after an excellent month of July. By the end of the year, GM will probably be back into the black as well, as Opel is gaining momentum and Chevrolet started to contract in the second half last year, so its losses won’t be as great in absolute terms as they’ve been for the past 12 months. That could mean Honda is in danger of being the only manufacturer to lose ground in a recovering European auto market this year.
January – July 2015 winners and losers
| Manufacturer biggest volume increase | Volkswagen Group | 148.866 | Manufacturer biggest volume lost | Honda | -6.420 | |
| Renault-Nissan | 117.173 | General Motors | -6.114 | |||
| Daimler AG | 67.211 | |||||
| Manufacturer biggest % increase | Mahindra & Mahindra | 64,0% | Manufacturer biggest % lost | Honda | -7,9% | |
| Mitsubishi Motors | 46,7% | General Motors | -1,1% | |||
| Tesla Motors | 41,7% | |||||
| Brand biggest volume increase | Volkswagen | 81.954 | Brand biggest volume lost | Chevrolet | -33.744 | |
| Nissan | 57.161 | DS | -9.932 | |||
| Renault | 51.606 | Honda | -6.420 | |||
| Brand biggest % increase | Jeep | 174,2% | Brand biggest % lost | Chevrolet | -96,0% | |
| Bugatti | 120,0% | Great Wall | -75,7% | |||
| Lamborghini | 104,2% | Tata | -49,6% |
July 2015 brand ranking
| Brand | July 2015 | July 2014 | change | |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 152.293 | 140.281 | 8,6% |
| 2 | Ford | 83.404 | 78.623 | 6,1% |
| 3 | Opel/Vauxhall | 74.487 | 71.859 | 3,7% |
| 4 | Renault | 70.503 | 67.112 | 5,1% |
| 5 | Peugeot | 70.373 | 63.444 | 10,9% |
| 6 | Audi | 70.000 | 63.774 | 9,8% |
| 7 | Mercedes-Benz | 63.605 | 56.067 | 13,4% |
| 8 | BMW | 57.569 | 53.506 | 7,6% |
| 9 | Fiat | 56.955 | 49.993 | 13,9% |
| 10 | Skoda | 54.639 | 51.415 | 6,3% |
| 11 | Citroën | 48.887 | 43.713 | 11,8% |
| 12 | Toyota | 45.204 | 39.732 | 13,8% |
| 13 | Nissan | 44.162 | 38.649 | 14,3% |
| 14 | Hyundai | 40.134 | 35.565 | 12,8% |
| 15 | Kia | 34.003 | 31.267 | 8,8% |
| 16 | Dacia | 32.556 | 34.176 | -4,7% |
| 17 | Seat | 29.401 | 29.695 | -1,0% |
| 18 | Volvo | 22.253 | 20.250 | 9,9% |
| 19 | Mazda | 17.958 | 13.440 | 33,6% |
| 20 | Suzuki | 13.892 | 12.139 | 14,4% |
| 21 | Mini | 13.439 | 12.963 | 3,7% |
| 22 | Mitsubishi | 10.251 | 8.601 | 19,2% |
| 23 | Honda | 9.479 | 9.076 | 4,4% |
| 24 | Land Rover | 8.607 | 8.929 | -3,6% |
| 25 | Smart | 8.248 | 4.253 | 93,9% |
| 26 | Jeep | 7.295 | 3.013 | 142,1% |
| 27 | Porsche | 7.108 | 5.390 | 31,9% |
| 28 | DS | 5.845 | 6.994 | -16,4% |
| 29 | Lancia-Chrysler | 4.782 | 5.256 | -9,0% |
| 30 | Alfa Romeo | 4.698 | 4.932 | -4,7% |
| 31 | Jaguar | 4.158 | 2.221 | 87,2% |
| 32 | Lexus | 2.726 | 2.182 | 24,9% |
| 33 | Subaru | 2.673 | 2.360 | 13,3% |
| 34 | SSangYong | 1.527 | 674 | 126,6% |
| 35 | Tesla | 1.090 | 298 | 265,8% |
| 36 | Maserati | 579 | 640 | -9,5% |
| 37 | Infiniti | 551 | 503 | 9,5% |
| 38 | Ferrari | 262 | 325 | -19,4% |
| 39 | SAIC MG | 239 | 203 | 17,7% |
| 40 | Bentley | 225 | 217 | 3,7% |
| 41 | Chevrolet | 181 | 1.063 | -83,0% |
| 42 | Lada | 155 | 103 | 50,5% |
| 43 | Aston Martin | 133 | 109 | 22,0% |
| 44 | Dodge | 99 | 69 | 43,5% |
| 45 | Lamborghini | 86 | 52 | 65,4% |
| 46 | Lotus | 73 | 99 | -26,3% |
| 47 | Cadillac | 49 | 35 | 40,0% |
| 48 | Rolls Royce | 48 | 45 | 6,7% |
| 49 | Mahindra | 45 | 31 | 45,2% |
| 50 | Tata | 19 | 32 | -40,6% |
| 51 | DR | 18 | 19 | -5,3% |
| 52 | Great Wall | 13 | 30 | -56,7% |
| 53 | Bugatti | 8 | 0 | +++ |
January – July 2015 brand ranking
| Brand | Jan-Jul 2015 | Jan-Jul 2014 | change | |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 1.047.799 | 965.845 | 8,5% |
| 2 | Ford | 630.044 | 592.844 | 6,3% |
| 3 | Renault | 585.227 | 533.621 | 9,7% |
| 4 | Opel/Vauxhall | 569.682 | 541.653 | 5,2% |
| 5 | Peugeot | 516.975 | 484.379 | 6,7% |
| 6 | Audi | 468.890 | 448.154 | 4,6% |
| 7 | Mercedes-Benz | 434.070 | 389.821 | 11,4% |
| 8 | BMW | 428.344 | 398.618 | 7,5% |
| 9 | Fiat | 408.851 | 372.237 | 9,8% |
| 10 | Skoda | 370.906 | 349.746 | 6,1% |
| 11 | Nissan | 345.485 | 288.324 | 19,8% |
| 12 | Citroën | 340.781 | 327.315 | 4,1% |
| 13 | Toyota | 335.392 | 320.004 | 4,8% |
| 14 | Hyundai | 275.279 | 252.023 | 9,2% |
| 15 | Kia | 235.769 | 216.129 | 9,1% |
| 16 | Dacia | 235.031 | 227.725 | 3,2% |
| 17 | Seat | 213.905 | 199.661 | 7,1% |
| 18 | Volvo | 156.939 | 144.514 | 8,6% |
| 19 | Mazda | 117.244 | 105.512 | 11,1% |
| 20 | Mini | 108.081 | 83.436 | 29,5% |
| 21 | Suzuki | 103.352 | 98.550 | 4,9% |
| 22 | Land Rover | 85.669 | 74.649 | 14,8% |
| 23 | Mitsubishi | 80.028 | 54.567 | 46,7% |
| 24 | Honda | 75.001 | 81.421 | -7,9% |
| 25 | Smart | 58.894 | 35.931 | 63,9% |
| 26 | Jeep | 51.587 | 18.812 | 174,2% |
| 27 | DS | 46.268 | 56.200 | -17,7% |
| 28 | Porsche | 43.717 | 33.151 | 31,9% |
| 29 | Lancia-Chrysler | 40.776 | 45.959 | -11,3% |
| 30 | Alfa Romeo | 35.714 | 37.621 | -5,1% |
| 31 | Lexus | 21.788 | 16.422 | 32,7% |
| 32 | Subaru | 21.493 | 20.740 | 3,6% |
| 33 | Jaguar | 20.000 | 18.118 | 10,4% |
| 34 | Tesla | 8.128 | 5.738 | 41,7% |
| 35 | SSangYong | 7.647 | 4.664 | 64,0% |
| 36 | Maserati | 3.989 | 3.753 | 6,3% |
| 37 | Infiniti | 3.386 | 2.286 | 48,1% |
| 38 | SAIC MG | 1.911 | 1.407 | 35,8% |
| 39 | Ferrari | 1.811 | 1.814 | -0,2% |
| 40 | Bentley | 1.486 | 1.568 | -5,2% |
| 41 | Chevrolet | 1.403 | 35.147 | -96,0% |
| 42 | Lada | 1.120 | 834 | 34,3% |
| 43 | Aston Martin | 1.020 | 1.013 | 0,7% |
| 44 | Lamborghini | 584 | 286 | 104,2% |
| 45 | Lotus | 528 | 390 | 35,4% |
| 46 | Rolls Royce | 365 | 419 | -12,9% |
| 47 | Dodge | 350 | 418 | -16,3% |
| 48 | Mahindra | 337 | 203 | 66,0% |
| 49 | Cadillac | 284 | 238 | 19,3% |
| 50 | DR | 166 | 139 | 19,4% |
| 51 | Tata | 143 | 284 | -49,6% |
| 52 | Great Wall | 61 | 251 | -75,7% |
| 53 | Bugatti | 11 | 5 | 120,0% |
| 54 | Daihatsu | 8 | 7 | 14,3% |