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2020 Europe Auto Sales Figures – By Brand (Brand Rankings)

2020 European Automotive Sales by Brand – The Best-Selling Automotive Brands By Sales Volume

Car sales in Europe dropped by 23.75% in 2020 to just under 12 million deliveries, which translates to a loss of over 3.5 million new car deliveries. That makes 2020 the worst year for automotive sales in modern history, both in terms of losses and in terms of absolute figures. Almost all European markets recorded double-digit declines in 2020, with the notable exception being Norway, where sales were virtually flat at -0.7%. Among Europe’s five major car markets, Spain posted the sharpest drop (-32.3%), followed closely by the UK (-29.4%) Italy (-27.9%) and France (-25.5%), while Germany (-19.1%) also saw a significant drop in deliveries.

In the brands ranking, the top-3 brands all lose between 22% and 24% of their sales of 2019, which means Peugeot jumps to third place, just ahead of Mercedes-Benz (-17.4%) as both brands knock down Ford (-29.5%) into 5th place. The best performers in the top-10 are Toyota (-12.1%) and Skoda (-14.6%). Toyota passes Skoda and Audi to take 7th place, while Opel/Vauxhall is the worst performer at -39.8% and falls behind those same two brands. At least in Q4 Opel/Vauxhall started crawling back from rock bottom, and with the new Mokka crossover coming in 2021, the brand should be able to bounce back a bit this year.

Dacia also struggled in 2020 with sales down 30.8%, but the new generation Sandero and the addition of the Spring small EV should boost the brand in 2021. Volvo (-14.3%) and Kia (-15.6%) were the best performing brands in the top-20. Kia jumped 3 places to #13, while Volvo passes Nissan in the ranking. Further down Tesla (-12.3%), Porsche (-5.4%) also outperformed the market. Tesla now outsells Honda in Europe and Porsche also closes in on the Japanese brand. Super luxury brands were less affected by the slowdown, with Ferrari sales up 13%, Bentley down just 10.8% and Lamborghini sales down just 7.8%.

SAIC MG was the big winner in 2020 as it expanded its market from just the UK to some select markets in continental Europe late 2019 and expanded further in 2020. The addition of its all-electric crossover ZS EV also helped the brand grow 58.1% in Europe. Other gainers were Mahindra at +17.5% thanks to the addition of the small crossover KUV100, Great Wall with sales more than tripling, however it remains a niche player with 370 sales, even behind newcomer and fellow Chinese brand Aiways which delivered the first 430 units of its U5 EV crossover. Geely/Volvo’s EV brand Polestar landed at #37 in the brands ranking with 8,811 deliveries and Chinese/Italian brand DR Motor was stable at -1.4%.

Among other small brands, Alpine struggled in its second full year of sales, down almost 70%. Lada was down 60% as it prepares to leave the EU market, Infiniti has already ended sales in Europe, while Chevrolet and Cadillac are decimated even further, although the latter showed a small rebound in the fourth quarter thanks to the XT4 crossover. Its volume remains insignificant, though.

2020 Best Selling Car Brands In Europe

This data table looks at last month’s total automotive brand volumes in Europe by model. We compare European automotive brand sales with last year. With these sales numbers we also calculate a growth rate column so you can better gauge an individual automotive brands  sales success in the Canadian market.

Brand Month LY Change YTD YTD Last Year YTD Change Month Share YTD Share
Aiways 550 0 0.00 550 0 0.00 0.03 0.00
Alfa Romeo 35,702 54,358 -34.32 35,702 54,358 -34.32 2.22 0.21
Alpine 1,343 4,376 -69.31 1,343 4,376 -69.31 0.08 0.01
Aston Martin 1,602 2,509 -36.15 1,602 2,509 -36.15 0.10 0.01
Audi 595,821 740,651 -19.55 595,821 740,651 -19.55 37.10 3.46
Bentley 2,944 3,299 -10.76 2,944 3,299 -10.76 0.18 0.02
BMW 659,333 812,800 -18.88 659,333 812,800 -18.88 41.06 3.82
Cadillac 106 445 -76.18 106 445 -76.18 0.01 0.00
Chevrolet 126 2,382 -94.71 126 2,382 -94.71 0.01 0.00
Citroen 433,531 625,817 -30.73 433,531 625,817 -30.73 26.99 2.51
Dacia 398,675 576,436 -30.84 398,675 576,436 -30.84 24.82 2.31
DR Motor 3,440 3,864 -10.97 3,440 3,864 -10.97 0.21 0.02
DS 43,597 52,597 -17.11 43,597 52,597 -17.11 2.71 0.25
Ferrari 4,284 3,608 18.74 4,284 3,608 18.74 0.27 0.02
Fiat 576,720 794,343 -27.40 576,720 794,343 -27.40 35.91 3.35
Ford 578,336 903,229 -35.97 578,336 903,229 -35.97 36.01 3.35
Honda 62,711 101,185 -38.02 62,711 101,185 -38.02 3.90 0.36
Hyundai 366,646 468,720 -21.78 366,646 468,720 -21.78 22.83 2.13
Infiniti 322 2,666 -87.92 322 2,666 -87.92 0.02 0.00
Jaguar 48,507 76,695 -36.75 48,507 76,695 -36.75 3.02 0.28
Jeep 120,422 163,122 -26.18 120,422 163,122 -26.18 7.50 0.70
Kia 420,142 497,954 -15.63 420,142 497,954 -15.63 26.16 2.44
Lada 1,924 4,715 -59.19 1,924 4,715 -59.19 0.12 0.01
Lamborghini 1,951 2,113 -7.67 1,951 2,113 -7.67 0.12 0.01
Lancia 86,152 117,640 -26.77 86,152 117,640 -26.77 5.36 0.50
Land Rover 102,564 122,809 -16.48 102,564 122,809 -16.48 6.39 0.59
Lexus 47,041 55,770 -15.65 47,041 55,770 -15.65 2.93 0.27
Lotus 597 664 -10.09 597 664 -10.09 0.04 0.00
Maserati 1,248 2,368 -47.30 1,248 2,368 -47.30 0.08 0.01
Maxus 81 0 0.00 81 0 0.00 0.01 0.00
Mazda 198,573 298,750 -33.53 198,573 298,750 -33.53 12.36 1.15
Mercedes-Benz 685,511 850,752 -19.42 685,511 850,752 -19.42 42.69 3.98
MG 25,116 14,058 78.66 25,116 14,058 78.66 1.56 0.15
Mini 62,134 80,562 -22.87 62,134 80,562 -22.87 3.87 0.36
Mitsubishi 115,092 171,114 -32.74 115,092 171,114 -32.74 7.17 0.67
Nissan 318,989 426,560 -25.22 318,989 426,560 -25.22 19.86 1.85
Opel 410,388 668,046 -38.57 410,388 668,046 -38.57 25.55 2.38
Peugeot 749,400 967,861 -22.57 749,400 967,861 -22.57 46.66 4.35
Polestar 21,014 0 0.00 21,014 0 0.00 1.31 0.12
Porsche 73,838 77,543 -4.78 73,838 77,543 -4.78 4.60 0.43
Renault 814,955 1,056,644 -22.87 814,955 1,056,644 -22.87 50.75 4.73
Rolls Royce 595 820 -27.44 595 820 -27.44 0.04 0.00
Seat 369,253 504,585 -26.82 369,253 504,585 -26.82 22.99 2.14
Skoda 573,777 673,859 -14.85 573,777 673,859 -14.85 35.73 3.33
Smart 27,216 115,182 -76.37 27,216 115,182 -76.37 1.69 0.16
Soueast 4,460 10,325 -56.80 4,460 10,325 -56.80 0.28 0.03
Subaru 26,565 42,296 -37.19 26,565 42,296 -37.19 1.65 0.15
Suzuki 132,152 178,429 -25.94 132,152 178,429 -25.94 8.23 0.77
SWM Motor 13,747 32,064 -57.13 13,747 32,064 -57.13 0.86 0.08
Tesla 97,548 111,664 -12.64 97,548 111,664 -12.64 6.07 0.57
Toyota 634,494 722,415 -12.17 634,494 722,415 -12.17 39.51 3.68
Volkswagen 1,028,213 1,303,894 -21.14 1,028,213 1,303,894 -21.14 64.02 5.96
Volvo 236,149 241,579 -2.25 236,149 241,579 -2.25 14.70 1.37
∑ = 11,215,597 ∑ = 14,746,137 ∑ = 11,215,597 ∑ = 14,746,137

2020 Auto Brand Market Share Dynamics in Europe

This data table looks at total automotive sales and specific brand volumes in Europe. We compare European automotive brand sales with last year. You can see the market share breakout visually for all the automotive brands selling in Europe.

2020 vs 2019 Auto Brand Sales in Europe

This chart simply takes each brand and compares their year to date sales with the year to date sales for the same time last year. Brands where the current bar is lower than the prior year bar have seen declines in sales year on year whereas brands with a larger current bar and lower prior bar are seeing growth in volumes year on year.

2020 Automotive Brand Sales Analysis

This chart might seem a little complicated at first but once you understand it is very helpful. First, the size of the area for each brand refers to their market share (i.e size). The bigger the circle the larger the brand in terms of sales volumes (YTD). The position of the circle in the chart along the left axis looks at the year to date growth of that brand. The higher the brand is on the chart, the more year to date growth it is seeing in sales volumes. Along the bottom axis you can see the total volumes shipped by that brand year to date.

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