European car sales analysis November 2014 – brands

After rising 6,3% in October, European car sales are up again in November 2014, for the 15th straight month, although with 984.578 units the growth rate has slowed to just 0,27%, the lowest this year, bringing down the year-to-date growth to 5,6% at close to 12 million units, which means 2014 is likely to finish at around 12,9 to 13 million sales, up 5 to 5,5 percent on 2013. However, I expect 2015 to be another difficult year with modest to no growth at all. And the slow recovery means the European car market is still a long way from pre-recession figures of around 15 million per year.

European-car-sales-ranking-november-2014-Jeep-Renegade-CherokeeBut some brands are growing much faster than others, as Jeep has more than doubled its November sales (up 133%), thanks to the addition of the small crossover Renegade and the continued success of the Grand Cherokee and the still very fresh Cherokee midsized crossover. MG Nanjing, the most successful Chinese manufacturer to date, despite being only present in the UK, continues its strong performance at +126,7%. And the third fastest growing brand is the Italian luxury automaker Maserati, which is enjoying a record year thanks to the successful Ghibli large premium sedan and its optional diesel engines.

In absolute figures, Nissan has added the most sales in November, gaining 6.363 units thanks to the new generations Qashqai and X-Trail and the addition of the Pulsar compact hatchback. Volkswagen and Seat follow suit, also thanks to their compact models Golf and Leon.

European-car-sales-ranking-november-2014-SsangYongLooking at automotive groups, the relative fastest groups are all Asian manufacturers that have taken over a struggling or bankrupt small brand: Nanjing MG which has taken over the failed MG brand, Mahindra&Mahindra of India, the new owners of the bankrupt South-Korean SUV maker SsangYong (+57,2%) and Malaysian autogroup DRB-Hicom, owner of both the Malaysian Proton brand, which has all but pulled out of the European market, and the English sports car maker Lotus, which is up 31,5% in November after a terrible month of October.

On the other hand of the scale are Tesla Motors, down more than half on November of 2013, when the American EV manufacturer enjoyed a very successful last couple of months thanks to the start of local assembly of its Model S luxury sedan and taking benefit of tax credits in its second largest market The Netherlands, which have been cut by January 2014. Also down are small players Aston Martin at -29,6% and AvtoVAZ (Lada) at -28,3%, both due to aging line-ups and a drought of new models.

Brands-wise, Chevrolet continues to sink deeper every month, losing more than 10.000 units and 97% of its sales as stocks dry up in ever more countries, dragging down General Motors with it, although Opel-Vauxhall also suffered a loss this month, down almost 3.500 units. Ford is down as well in November, for only the third time this year, and suffering its largest decrease at almost 5.000 units.

November winners and losers

Manufacturer biggest volume increase VW Group 10.793 Manufacturer biggest volume lost General Motors -13.833
Renault-Nissan 8.844 Ford Motor Corp. -4.922
Fiat-Chrysler 3.366 PSA -2.445
Manufacturer biggest % increase Nanjing MG 126,7% Manufacturer biggest % lost Tesla Motors -51,1%
Mahindra&

Mahindra

57,2% Aston Martin -29,6%
Proton 31,5% AvtoVAZ (Lada) -28,3%
Brand biggest volume increase Nissan 6.363 Brand biggest volume lost Chevrolet -10.302
Volkswagen 5.472 Ford -4.924
Seat 3.325 Opel/Vauxhall -3.470
Brand biggest % increase Jeep 133,0% Brand biggest % lost Chevrolet -97,1%
MG Nanjing 126,7% Tesla -51,1%
Maserati 108,9% Aston Martin -29,6%

 

Year-to-date, the Volkswagen Group and Renault-Nissan continue to impress, adding 400.000 units to their combined sales, or two thirds of the growth of the overall market. Despite being down in November, PSA retakes its third place of in the ranking of absolute gains, as Ford is down even more.

The only other change since October is Maserati leapfrogging Tesla in the ranking of relative increases, as Tesla’s growth has slowed due to its loss in November.

January – November winners and losers

Manufacturer biggest volume increase VW Group 209.731 Manufacturer biggest volume lost General Motors -42.704
Renault-Nissan 190.337 Honda -6.531
PSA 50.717 Fuji H.I. (Subaru) -4.678
Manufacturer biggest % increase Nanjing MG 472,4% Manufacturer biggest % lost Aston Martin -16,6%
Tesla Motors 181,8% Fuji H.I. (Subaru) -12,9%
Mahindra&

Mahindra

50,6% AvtoVAZ (Lada) -11,3%
Brand biggest volume increase Dacia 73.016 Brand biggest volume lost Chevrolet -96.476
Skoda 72.364 DS -24.345
Renault 68.436 Smart -12.123
Brand biggest % increase Nanjing MG 472,4% Brand biggest % lost Chevrolet -72,2%
Maserati 307,2% DS -23,3%
Tesla 181,8% Smart -19,8%

 

Daihatsu, the Toyota-owned Japanese minicar maker that officially pulled out of the European market in 2013, sold another two cars in November, after selling only one in the previous five months, making it a total of ten year-to-date.

The Malaysian minicar maker Perodua, also partially owned by Toyota, failed to sell a single car in its only market, the UK, in October, but recovered with two sales in November, pushing its year-to-date tally to 29 units.

Spyker-C8-Aileron

In November, a few brands have miraculously returned from their graves. Spyker, the recently bankrupted Dutch supercar maker that made headlines when it bought the Swedish Saab brand and its factories from General Motors a few years ago, has sold only its second car for the year and the first since last March.

And Lincoln, Ford Motor Company’s luxury brand that’s trying to make a comeback in the US and China, but has no official representation in Europe, sold its fifth car of the year and the first since September.

Brands that failed to sell a single car in November include supercar maker Bugatti, after selling an impressive 3 units in both September and October, the American brands Buick, GMC and Mercury (which has surprisingly sold five cars this year despite being killed by Ford Motor Company a few years ago). Also Saab, Maybach and Proton, although that shouldn’t be surprising.

November brand ranking

Brand nov-14 nov-13 change
1 Volkswagen 132.667 127.195 4,3%
2 Ford 65.959 70.883 -6,9%
3 Renault 65.615 65.313 0,5%
4 Opel/Vauxhall 63.480 66.950 -5,2%
5 Peugeot 57.946 56.965 1,7%
6 Audi 56.382 57.896 -2,6%
7 BMW 54.458 53.904 1,0%
8 Mercedes-Benz 52.620 52.727 -0,2%
9 Skoda 44.529 42.011 6,0%
10 Citroën 43.066 46.492 -7,4%
11 Fiat 42.928 41.928 2,4%
12 Toyota 40.984 41.057 -0,2%
13 Nissan 36.698 30.335 21,0%
14 Hyundai 31.768 29.596 7,3%
15 Dacia 26.957 24.903 8,2%
16 Kia 25.140 26.010 -3,3%
17 Seat 25.013 21.688 15,3%
18 Volvo 22.014 20.747 6,1%
19 Mini 13.747 12.126 13,4%
20 Mazda 12.131 11.916 1,8%
21 Suzuki 10.879 13.025 -16,5%
22 Honda 8.823 9.316 -5,3%
23 Mitsubishi 8.803 8.403 4,8%
24 Land Rover 7.851 8.166 -3,9%
25 DS 5.268 7.011 -24,9%
26 Lancia-Chrysler 5.185 5.721 -9,4%
27 Jeep 4.918 2.111 133,0%
28 Porsche 4.477 3.461 29,4%
29 Smart 4.413 5.796 -23,9%
30 Alfa Romeo 4.284 4.437 -3,4%
31 Subaru 2.637 3.299 -20,1%
32 Lexus 2.017 2.175 -7,3%
33 Jaguar 2.002 1.813 10,4%
34 SSangYong 718 456 57,5%
35 Tesla 554 1.133 -51,1%
36 Maserati 351 168 108,9%
37 Chevrolet 304 10.606 -97,1%
38 Infiniti 299 174 71,8%
39 MG Nanjing 170 75 126,7%
40 Ferrari 136 115 18,3%
41 Lada 132 184 -28,3%
42 Bentley 131 165 -20,6%
43 Aston Martin 81 115 -29,6%
44 Lotus 71 54 31,5%
45 Lamborghini 48 37 29,7%
46 Dodge 46 34 35,3%
47 Rolls Royce 37 39 -5,1%
48 DR 35 19 84,2%
49 Mahindra 32 21 52,4%
50 Tata 28 78 -64,1%
51 Great Wall 23 41 -43,9%
52 Cadillac 19 22 -13,6%
53 Chevrolet USA 16 73 -78,1%
54 Daihatsu 2 16 -87,5%
55 Perodua 2 3 -33,3%
56 Lincoln 1 0
57 Spyker 1 0

January – November brand ranking

 

Brand 2014 2013 change
1 Volkswagen 1.484.484 1.418.883 4,6%
2 Ford 891.981 858.370 3,9%
3 Opel/Vauxhall 812.831 759.639 7,0%
4 Renault 796.905 728.469 9,4%
5 Peugeot 723.116 681.598 6,1%
6 Audi 676.848 649.373 4,2%
7 BMW 615.636 589.169 4,5%
8 Mercedes-Benz 605.745 580.957 4,3%
9 Citroën 565.613 556.414 1,7%
10 Fiat 543.616 530.115 2,5%
11 Skoda 532.487 460.123 15,7%
12 Toyota 488.278 476.614 2,4%
13 Nissan 439.462 392.246 12,0%
14 Hyundai 389.758 383.856 1,5%
15 Dacia 334.323 261.307 27,9%
16 Kia 329.666 322.656 2,2%
17 Seat 299.177 263.953 13,3%
18 Volvo 229.166 205.927 11,3%
19 Mazda 163.094 136.019 19,9%
20 Suzuki 150.592 139.123 8,2%
21 Mini 139.981 141.521 -1,1%
22 Honda 123.377 129.908 -5,0%
23 Land Rover 109.841 103.654 6,0%
24 Mitsubishi 93.020 71.023 31,0%
25 DS 80.355 104.700 -23,3%
26 Lancia-Chrysler 67.172 68.852 -2,4%
27 Alfa Romeo 54.498 59.742 -8,8%
28 Porsche 49.987 41.253 21,2%
29 Smart 49.153 61.276 -19,8%
30 Chevrolet 37.172 133.648 -72,2%
31 Jeep 33.758 21.579 56,4%
32 Subaru 31.570 36.248 -12,9%
33 Jaguar 26.800 25.215 6,3%
34 Lexus 25.526 21.871 16,7%
35 SSangYong 7.623 4.996 52,6%
36 Tesla 7.509 2.665 181,8%
37 Maserati 5.363 1.317 307,2%
38 Infiniti 3.499 1.830 91,2%
39 Ferrari 2.379 2.402 -1,0%
40 Bentley 2.279 2.032 12,2%
41 Nanjing MG 2.198 384 472,4%
42 Aston Martin 1.436 1.721 -16,6%
43 Lada 1.427 1.609 -11,3%
44 Chevrolet USA 891 1.361 -34,5%
45 Dodge 658 453 45,3%
46 Lotus 609 518 17,6%
47 Rolls Royce 604 425 42,1%
48 Lamborghini 531 419 26,7%
49 Tata 402 1.020 -60,6%
50 Great Wall 377 247 52,6%
51 Cadillac 339 342 -0,9%
52 Mahindra 327 282 16,0%
53 DR 258 420 -38,6%
54 Perodua 29 208 -86,1%
55 Bugatti 12 10 20,0%
56 Buick 11 4 175,0%
57 Saab 10 128 -92,2%
58 Daihatsu 10 522 -98,1%
59 Mercury 5 1 400,0%
60 Lincoln 5 1 400,0%
61 GMC 3 6 -50,0%
62 Spyker 2 0
63 Maybach 1 9 -88,9%
64 Proton 1 22 -95,5%
  1. It is quite safe to assume that Tesla is going to grab a significant share of the Euro market, especially from a triplet Merc-BMW-Audi, once the Model III is introduced in 2017. Tesla is playing smartly, looking to build a production facility in Europe ..

  2. Hi Marijan,

    I think you’re right. They’re already very competitive with the Model S and their knowledge of electric cars and batteries will surely help them build a great midsized model as well. Although I don’t expect the Germans to sit still and let Tesla keep stealing sales. They have a lot of R&D knowledge and an even bigger budget, and they won’t be caught by surprise a second time. I expect them to be working on something to compete head-on with the Tesla Model III not soon after that car has started production.
    And otherwise one of them (Audi?) may just buy Tesla outright and add them to their own stable.

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