The European car market has been in a bit of rollercoaster in the summer of 2019, with sales down 7,8% in June, then up 2,6% in July before dropping 7,6% again in August. Expect a double digit gain again in September as the market suffered a severe 23% drop in that month last year as a result of the WLTP fuel efficiency standards kicking in. Still, the market is down 3,3% for 2019 so far, and September alone isn’t going to bring that back into positive territory. While in July SUVs and crossovers were the only type of vehicles to improve their sales, in August logically all types were in the red, with MPVs once again the biggest losers an falling at more than double the rate of the overall market. In July and August, electrified vehicles continued to gain market share, more specifically EVs, as PHEV sales took a nosedive due to WLTP regulations. Electric car sales grew by 90% in July and by 69% in August, while PHEV sales were down 19% in July and down 29% in August. The marker share of electrified vehicles grew to a record 3,3% in August with battery electric cars taking a 2,2% share of the overall European passenger car market.
2019 July – August Manufacturers
Renault-Nissan and FCA have struggled greatly in the last two months, being the only manufacturers in the top-10 to lose sales in both months, and both by double digits as well. Naturally, this is a result of registering unsold vehicles onto the market in these months in 2018, as those vehicles were non-WLTP compliant and therefore could not be sold after September 1st. On the other end of the scale, Daimler improved its sales in both months, as did Suzuki, and the both did so by double digit figures. However, no manufacturer has shown the impressive growth figures of Tesla, helped by the deliveries of its Model 3 succes story.
| Group | Aug-19 | Aug-18 | change | July
rank |
Jul-19 | Jul-18 | change | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Group | 289.186 | 312.603 | -7,5% | 1 | 347.819 | 327.888 | 6,10% |
| 2 | PSA | 150.489 | 155.425 | -3,2% | 2 | 212.146 | 198.597 | 6,80% |
| 3 | Renault-Nissan | 149.610 | 192.837 | -22,4% | 3 | 163.008 | 189.037 | -13,80% |
| 4 | Daimler AG | 72.438 | 61.022 | 18,7% | 6 | 82.446 | 74.449 | 10,70% |
| 5 | Hyundai-Kia | 69.247 | 78.190 | -11,4% | 4 | 92.637 | 88.185 | 5,00% |
| 6 | Ford Motor Comp. | 60.340 | 61.176 | -1,4% | 5 | 83.446 | 77.494 | 7,70% |
| 7 | BMW AG | 56.508 | 61.458 | -8,1% | 7 | 77.575 | 74.253 | 4,50% |
| 8 | Toyota Motor | 53.061 | 51.594 | 2,8% | 9 | 69.078 | 61.418 | 12,50% |
| 9 | Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles | 50.982 | 71.301 | -28,5% | 8 | 74.991 | 90.178 | -16,80% |
| 10 | Suzuki | 27.654 | 19.585 | 41,2% | 11 | 25.690 | 21.671 | 18,50% |
| 11 | Geely Group | 18.601 | 16.067 | 15,8% | 10 | 26.749 | 22.298 | 20,00% |
| 12 | Mazda | 14.718 | 17.333 | -15,1% | 12 | 18.055 | 17.119 | 5,50% |
| 13 | Tata Motors | 9.243 | 12.645 | -26,9% | 13 | 15.743 | 15.374 | 2,40% |
| 14 | Honda | 8.655 | 9.385 | -7,8% | 14 | 9.329 | 10.753 | -13,20% |
| 15 | Tesla Motors | 6.594 | 1.482 | 344,9% | 15 | 4.612 | 1.079 | 327,40% |
| 16 | Subaru Corp. | 2.346 | 3.462 | -32,2% | 16 | 2.126 | 2.740 | -22,40% |
| 17 | Mahindra & Mahindra | 995 | 1.375 | -27,6% | 17 | 1.138 | 1.230 | -7,50% |
| 18 | SAIC | 663 | 587 | 12,9% | 18 | 1.041 | 813 | 28,00% |
| 19 | General Motors | 365 | 249 | 46,6% | 19 | 453 | 404 | 12,10% |
| 20 | Aston Martin | 133 | 189 | -29,6% | 20 | 178 | 200 | -11,00% |
2019 July – August Brands
Becaude of “artificial” registrations by some brands last year, the ranking has been very unstable in these last two months. For example, Renault dropped to the #6 position in July, before recovering to its #2 spot in August, while Peugeot fell from 3rd place in July to 6th in August. Opel/Vauxhall dropped from 5th in July to 8th in August, while Dacia jumped from 15th to a record 9th. Fiat and Nissan were the big losers among major brands, dropping to 14th and 17th place in July and to 15th and 18th place in August respectively.
| Brand | Aug-19 | Aug-18 | change | July
rank |
Jul-19 | Jul-18 | change | |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 129.276 | 145.245 | -11,0% | 1 | 155.149 | 151.854 | 2,2% |
| 2 | Renault | 61.387 | 92.808 | -33,9% | 6 | 71.048 | 87.085 | -18,4% |
| 3 | Ford | 60.338 | 61.176 | -1,4% | 2 | 83.446 | 77.494 | 7,7% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz | 60.099 | 55.083 | 9,1% | 4 | 74.129 | 66.664 | 11,2% |
| 5 | Audi | 58.510 | 63.992 | -8,6% | 7 | 69.776 | 69.189 | 0,8% |
| 6 | Peugeot | 57.031 | 58.383 | -2,3% | 3 | 80.383 | 75.559 | 6,4% |
| 7 | Skoda | 56.737 | 53.080 | 6,9% | 8 | 66.276 | 59.225 | 11,9% |
| 8 | Opel/Vauxhall | 52.674 | 54.036 | -2,5% | 5 | 72.199 | 70.515 | 2,4% |
| 9 | Dacia | 50.974 | 43.413 | 17,4% | 15 | 48.968 | 44.136 | 10,9% |
| 10 | Toyota | 49.828 | 48.945 | 1,8% | 9 | 64.498 | 57.786 | 11,6% |
| 11 | BMW | 45.281 | 50.360 | -10,1% | 10 | 61.865 | 60.449 | 2,3% |
| 12 | Seat | 39.380 | 42.550 | -7,5% | 13 | 49.412 | 40.567 | 21,8% |
| 13 | Hyundai | 38.454 | 39.577 | -2,8% | 12 | 50.128 | 46.289 | 8,3% |
| 14 | Citroën | 37.331 | 40.673 | -8,2% | 11 | 54.883 | 48.233 | 13,8% |
| 15 | Fiat | 32.912 | 46.498 | -29,2% | 14 | 49.323 | 60.917 | -19,0% |
| 16 | Kia | 30.793 | 38.613 | -20,3% | 16 | 42.509 | 41.896 | 1,5% |
| 17 | Suzuki | 27.654 | 19.585 | 41,2% | 19 | 25.690 | 21.671 | 18,5% |
| 18 | Nissan | 23.616 | 40.979 | -42,4% | 17 | 31.256 | 45.671 | -31,6% |
| 19 | Volvo | 18.556 | 15.973 | 16,2% | 18 | 26.697 | 22.251 | 20,0% |
| 20 | Mazda | 14.718 | 17.333 | -15,1% | 20 | 18.055 | 17.119 | 5,5% |
| 21 | Mitsubishi | 12.693 | 13.129 | -3,3% | 23 | 10.662 | 10.930 | -2,5% |
| 22 | Smart | 12.339 | 5.939 | 107,8% | 26 | 8.317 | 7.785 | 6,8% |
| 23 | Jeep | 11.710 | 14.333 | -18,3% | 22 | 15.477 | 15.220 | 1,7% |
| 24 | Mini | 11.194 | 11.060 | 1,2% | 21 | 15.651 | 13.760 | 13,7% |
| 25 | Honda | 8.655 | 9.385 | -7,8% | 25 | 9.329 | 10.753 | -13,2% |
| 26 | Tesla | 6.594 | 1.482 | 344,9% | 30 | 4.612 | 1.079 | 327,4% |
| 27 | Land Rover | 5.701 | 7.427 | -23,2% | 24 | 9.834 | 9.474 | 3,8% |
| 28 | Porsche | 4.918 | 7.124 | -31,0% | 27 | 6.602 | 6.422 | 2,8% |
| 29 | Jaguar | 3.542 | 5.218 | -32,1% | 28 | 5.909 | 5.900 | 0,2% |
| 30 | DS | 3.453 | 2.333 | 48,0% | 29 | 4.681 | 4.290 | 9,1% |
| 31 | Lexus | 3.233 | 2.649 | 22,0% | 31 | 4.580 | 3.629 | 26,2% |
| 32 | Alfa Romeo | 3.068 | 8.084 | -62,0% | 32 | 4.536 | 9.395 | -51,7% |
| 33 | Lancia | 2.509 | 1.284 | 95,4% | 33 | 4.324 | 3.465 | 24,8% |
| 34 | Subaru | 2.346 | 3.462 | -32,2% | 34 | 2.126 | 2.740 | -22,4% |
| 35 | DR Motor | 924 | 70 | 1220,0% | 38 | 564 | 83 | 579,5% |
| 36 | SSangYong | 898 | 1.272 | -29,4% | 35 | 1.044 | 1.071 | -2,5% |
| 37 | SAIC MG | 663 | 587 | 12,9% | 36 | 1.041 | 813 | 28,0% |
| 38 | Alpine | 479 | 470 | 1,9% | 39 | 434 | 221 | 96,4% |
| 39 | Maserati | 341 | 481 | -29,1% | 37 | 598 | 799 | -25,2% |
| 40 | Chevrolet | 274 | 175 | 56,6% | 41 | 401 | 336 | 19,3% |
| 41 | Ferrari | 242 | 395 | -38,7% | 40 | 422 | 318 | 32,7% |
| 42 | Infiniti | 242 | 1.438 | -83,2% | 44 | 268 | 431 | -37,8% |
| 43 | Lada | 219 | 600 | -63,5% | 42 | 372 | 563 | -33,9% |
| 44 | Bentley | 205 | 426 | -51,9% | 43 | 330 | 434 | -24,0% |
| 45 | Lamborghini | 144 | 176 | -18,2% | 45 | 248 | 196 | 26,5% |
| 46 | Aston Martin | 133 | 189 | -29,6% | 46 | 178 | 200 | -11,0% |
| 47 | Mahindra | 97 | 103 | -5,8% | 48 | 94 | 159 | -40,9% |
| 48 | Dodge | 96 | 151 | -36,4% | 47 | 165 | 19 | 768,4% |
| 49 | Cadillac | 91 | 71 | 28,2% | 50 | 52 | 67 | -22,4% |
| 50 | Lotus | 40 | 81 | -50,6% | 51 | 46 | 34 | 35,3% |
| 51 | Rolls Royce | 33 | 38 | -13,2% | 49 | 59 | 44 | 34,1% |
| 52 | Geely | 5 | 13 | -61,5% | 53 | 6 | 13 | -53,8% |
| 53 | Chrysler | 4 | 24 | -83,3% | 52 | 13 | 7 | 85,7% |
| 54 | Bugatti | 3 | 4 | -25,0% | 54 | 1 | 0 | – |
2019 January – August brands ranking
Despite the rather fluctuating rankings in the last two months, the Year-to-Date ranking is relatively stable, with the top-9 brands holding their positions, even though Renault has lost nearly 11% of its sales and 0,6 percentage points of share. Peugeot is closing in on Ford for 3rd place and Mercedes-Benz is closing the gap to Opel/Vauxhall for 5th place, while BMW is breathing down Audi’s neck for 7th place. Fiat has dropped out of the top-10 with a close to 15% loss, while Seat has leapfrogged both Kia and Nissan, the latter of which is down 3 places as it loses more than a quarter of its sales and 0,8 percentage points of share. Further below, Mitsubishi jumps ahead of Land Rover and Honda and Tesla jumps 7 places to #27 ahead of Jaguar and Porsche.
| Brand | 2019 | 2018 | change | 2019 share | 2018 share | |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 1.207.334 | 1.279.515 | -5,6% | 11,3% | 11,6% |
| 2 | Renault | 714.878 | 801.501 | -10,8% | 6,7% | 7,3% |
| 3 | Ford | 668.243 | 711.319 | -6,1% | 6,3% | 6,5% |
| 4 | Peugeot | 664.964 | 672.904 | -1,2% | 6,2% | 6,1% |
| 5 | Opel/Vauxhall | 589.610 | 614.105 | -4,0% | 5,5% | 5,6% |
| 6 | Mercedes-Benz | 588.947 | 580.421 | 1,5% | 5,5% | 5,3% |
| 7 | Audi | 535.346 | 564.300 | -5,1% | 5,0% | 5,1% |
| 8 | BMW | 533.599 | 539.046 | -1,0% | 5,0% | 4,9% |
| 9 | Skoda | 508.470 | 506.392 | 0,4% | 4,8% | 4,6% |
| 10 | Toyota | 494.594 | 487.350 | 1,5% | 4,6% | 4,4% |
| 11 | Fiat | 448.295 | 525.146 | -14,6% | 4,2% | 4,8% |
| 12 | Citroën | 441.227 | 420.452 | 4,9% | 4,1% | 3,8% |
| 13 | Dacia | 404.513 | 373.355 | 8,3% | 3,8% | 3,4% |
| 14 | Hyundai | 363.847 | 370.784 | -1,9% | 3,4% | 3,4% |
| 15 | Seat | 347.777 | 333.355 | 4,3% | 3,3% | 3,0% |
| 16 | Kia | 334.034 | 347.479 | -3,9% | 3,1% | 3,2% |
| 17 | Nissan | 272.300 | 370.803 | -26,6% | 2,6% | 3,4% |
| 18 | Volvo | 218.125 | 209.677 | 4,0% | 2,0% | 1,9% |
| 19 | Suzuki | 189.121 | 176.105 | 7,4% | 1,8% | 1,6% |
| 20 | Mazda | 154.404 | 158.682 | -2,7% | 1,4% | 1,4% |
| 21 | Mini | 134.938 | 138.439 | -2,5% | 1,3% | 1,3% |
| 22 | Jeep | 117.505 | 118.668 | -1,0% | 1,1% | 1,1% |
| 23 | Mitsubishi | 102.120 | 93.647 | 9,0% | 1,0% | 0,8% |
| 24 | Land Rover | 95.707 | 101.256 | -5,5% | 0,9% | 0,9% |
| 25 | Honda | 85.024 | 98.285 | -13,5% | 0,8% | 0,9% |
| 26 | Smart | 73.102 | 65.949 | 10,8% | 0,7% | 0,6% |
| 27 | Tesla | 56.429 | 15.987 | 253,0% | 0,5% | 0,1% |
| 28 | Jaguar | 53.035 | 52.809 | 0,4% | 0,5% | 0,5% |
| 29 | Porsche | 46.580 | 57.536 | -19,0% | 0,4% | 0,5% |
| 30 | Lancia | 41.551 | 31.939 | 30,1% | 0,4% | 0,3% |
| 31 | Alfa Romeo | 37.685 | 67.810 | -44,4% | 0,4% | 0,6% |
| 32 | Lexus | 34.769 | 30.796 | 12,9% | 0,3% | 0,3% |
| 33 | DS | 33.465 | 33.074 | 1,2% | 0,3% | 0,3% |
| 34 | Subaru | 19.576 | 26.088 | -25,0% | 0,2% | 0,2% |
| 35 | SSangYong | 8.960 | 10.996 | -18,5% | 0,1% | 0,1% |
| 36 | SAIC MG | 7.991 | 5.686 | 40,5% | 0,1% | 0,1% |
| 37 | Maserati | 4.106 | 5.661 | -27,5% | 0,0% | 0,1% |
| 38 | Lada | 4.094 | 4.010 | 2,1% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 39 | Alpine | 3.453 | 1.323 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 40 | Ferrari | 2.731 | 2.647 | 3,2% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 41 | DR Motor | 2.644 | 622 | 325,1% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 42 | Bentley | 2.288 | 2.481 | -7,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 43 | Infiniti | 2.275 | 5.160 | -55,9% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 44 | Chevrolet | 2.141 | 1.857 | 15,3% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 45 | Aston Martin | 1.705 | 1.531 | 11,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 46 | Lamborghini | 1.679 | 1.219 | 37,7% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 47 | Dodge | 855 | 1.008 | -15,2% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 48 | Mahindra | 823 | 535 | 53,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 49 | Cadillac | 565 | 595 | -5,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 50 | Rolls Royce | 485 | 497 | -2,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 51 | Lotus | 389 | 420 | -7,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 52 | Chrysler | 86 | 93 | -7,5% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 53 | Geely | 73 | 115 | -36,5% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 54 | Great Wall | 41 | 2 | 1950,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 55 | Bugatti | 21 | 19 | 10,5% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
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