European car sales analysis October 2021 – brands

October is the worst month of 2021 so far for the European car market, as it drops 26.4% as the industry continues to struggle with reduced supply because as a result of the worldwide microchip shortages. At just 828,500 deliveries, October is the second worst month of the year in terms of volume, after August which is traditionally the slowest month due to the summer vacation. The year-to-date figure now stands at just over 10 million deliveries, up 3.2% (but down 24.1% on the first ten months of 2019). Many European markets posted double-digit percentage drops in June. For the third month in a row, the largest car markets posted double-digit declines: Italy (-35.7%), Germany (-34.9%) and France (-30.7%) fall faster than the overall market while United Kingdom (-24.6%) and Spain (-20.5%) perform only slightly better. On the other hand, we see increased sales some of the smaller markets like Ireland (+16.7%), Iceland (+6.5%) and Cyprus (+12.1%).

Car models (hatchback, sedan, stationwagon, coupe and convertible) lose market share again at -32.5% and their market share drops to the second lowest ever at 49%, after the 48.9% last July. Crossovers and SUVs outperform at -16.6% but set a new record market share at 47.6%, up another half a percentage point on last month’s new record. MPV sales have their second worst month ever at -52.7% to 2.8% share. Plug-in vehicles (EVs and PHEVs) outsold diesel passenger vehicles for the third time in a row and ever, taking a record 22.9% market share while diesel share is down to just 19%.

October 2021 Manufacturers

Strangely, while some media outlets are reporting Stellantis outselling Volkswagen Group this month, our data shows VW Group still ahead by 14,000 deliveries, although Stellantis is closing the gap at -29.8% which is 5 percentage points better than its rival. Renault-Nissan is at -27.3% but at a distance. Hyundai-Kia continue to seem unaffected by the semiconductor shortages, as the only major manufacturer in the black at +5.5%. BMW AG is down 22.8% while its rival Daimler AG loses more than a third of its sales. Toyota Motor has been able to keep its sales pretty stable in recent months but is now also starting to feel the effects of supply shortages with sales down 24.2%. Ford Motor Company is once again affected the worst in the top-10 at -36.3%. Geely Group is down just 6.4% thanks to outstanding performances of Polestar and Lynk & Co. Suzuki and Mazda slighely outperform the market, but Tata Motors loses almost half of its sales. SAIC Motor and Tesla Motors are once again the best performing manufacturers, at +88% and +132.5% respectively.

Group okt-21 okt-20 change 2021 share 2020 share YTD 2021 YTD 2020 change
1 Volkswagen Group 184.151 282.300 -34,8% 22,4% 25,1% 2.553.337 2.449.281 4,2%
2 Stellantis 170.381 242.587 -29,8% 20,7% 21,6% 2.048.305 1.971.689 3,9%
3 Renault-Nissan 108.743 149.501 -27,3% 13,2% 13,3% 1.178.616 1.314.132 -10,3%
4 Hyundai-Kia 82.658 78.334 5,5% 10,0% 7,0% 829.933 700.083 18,5%
5 BMW AG 60.255 77.812 -22,6% 7,3% 6,9% 716.338 681.114 5,2%
6 Daimler AG 52.972 80.146 -33,9% 6,4% 7,1% 571.660 623.006 -8,2%
7 Toyota Motor 47.668 62.859 -24,2% 5,8% 5,6% 627.589 560.166 12,0%
8 Ford Motor Comp. 39.080 61.325 -36,3% 4,8% 5,5% 496.426 578.494 -14,2%
9 Geely Group 27.511 29.404 -6,4% 3,3% 2,6% 265.721 235.167 13,0%
10 Suzuki 13.691 17.965 -23,8% 1,7% 1,6% 168.086 140.697 19,5%
11 Mazda 11.349 14.384 -21,1% 1,4% 1,3% 137.209 119.659 14,7%
12 Tata Motors 6.895 12.968 -46,8% 0,8% 1,2% 123.660 131.534 -6,0%
13 Honda 5.957 7.544 -21,0% 0,7% 0,7% 62.696 67.588 -7,2%
14 SAIC 4.853 2.581 88,0% 0,6% 0,2% 41.971 19.749 112,5%
15 Tesla Motors 3.413 1.468 132,5% 0,4% 0,1% 116.972 66.058 77,1%
16 Subaru Corp. 1.747 1.875 -6,8% 0,2% 0,2% 17.293 15.287 13,1%
17 Mahindra & Mahindra 1.016 1.024 -0,8% 0,1% 0,1% 9.198 9.403 -2,2%
18 Aston Martin 148 135 9,6% 0,0% 0,0% 1.722 1.293 33,2%
19 General Motors 47 60 -21,7% 0,0% 0,0% 506 256 97,7%

October 2021 Brands

In the brands ranking, the entire top-4 loses market share with drops of 30% or more. Volkswagen is below 10% market share for the second month in a row, something which hasn’t happened since 2005. Peugeot jumps from 7th place in September back to #2, just ahead of Renault. Mercedes-Benz jumps from 9th back to #4, just when BMW drops to #5 after spending two months on the podium. Toyota was in 2nd place in July and August, dropped ot 4th place in September and is now back down to 6th in October. Similarly, Hyundai scored an unheard of #4 spot in August before dropping to a still impressive 6th place in September, before falling to #7 in October, although it’s still the best performing brand in the top-20 and one of only two top-20 brands to improve their sales on last year, together with sister brand Kia in 9th. Volvo is the next best performer at -15.3% but Audi is the worst performing brand in the top-20 at -43.4%.

Porsche is up 9.4% at #23, while MG gains 86.7% at #27, Smart is up 10.4% and Tesla more than doubles its sales. Polestar also almost doubles up at #33 and so does DR Motor at #39. Alpine more than triples up at #43. While Lynk & Co is stable at #37, easily the best newly launched brand in Europe, ahead of BYD at #41, Genesis at #49, Xpeng at #55, Maxus at #57, Seres at #58 and Nio at #60.

Brand okt-21 okt-20 change 2021 share 2020 share YTD rank YTD 2021 YTD 2020 change
1 Volkswagen 79.220 121.852 -35,0% 9,6% 10,8% 1 1.109.705 1.065.207 4,2%
2 Peugeot 53.786 77.090 -30,2% 6,5% 6,9% 2 619.293 612.966 1,0%
3 Renault 52.802 79.167 -33,3% 6,4% 7,0% 5 568.833 663.725 -14,3%
4 Mercedes-Benz 48.827 76.390 -36,1% 5,9% 6,8% 6 541.529 604.886 -10,5%
5 BMW 47.326 60.575 -21,9% 5,7% 5,4% 4 574.748 539.725 6,5%
6 Toyota 44.348 58.800 -24,6% 5,4% 5,2% 3 587.078 521.674 12,5%
7 Hyundai 42.215 38.685 9,1% 5,1% 3,4% 11 417.459 343.509 21,5%
8 Skoda 41.075 59.489 -31,0% 5,0% 5,3% 7 516.588 521.161 -0,9%
9 Kia 40.377 39.649 1,8% 4,9% 3,5% 12 411.988 356.574 15,5%
10 Ford 39.079 61.322 -36,3% 4,7% 5,5% 9 496.423 578.489 -14,2%
11 Opel/Vauxhall 34.616 47.911 -27,7% 4,2% 4,3% 10 424.360 398.885 6,4%
12 Audi 34.399 60.731 -43,4% 4,2% 5,4% 8 509.722 493.126 3,4%
13 Fiat 33.819 48.223 -29,9% 4,1% 4,3% 13 406.334 385.700 5,3%
14 Citroën 31.067 44.417 -30,1% 3,8% 3,9% 14 388.697 373.660 4,0%
15 Dacia 30.843 38.856 -20,6% 3,7% 3,5% 16 329.903 322.825 2,2%
16 Volvo 23.648 27.914 -15,3% 2,9% 2,5% 17 246.276 229.924 7,1%
17 Seat & Cupra 21.727 33.158 -34,5% 2,6% 2,9% 15 352.722 307.530 14,7%
18 Nissan 18.957 24.265 -21,9% 2,3% 2,2% 18 217.500 235.576 -7,7%
19 Suzuki 13.691 17.965 -23,8% 1,7% 1,6% 19 168.086 140.697 19,5%
20 Mini 12.886 17.195 -25,1% 1,6% 1,5% 20 141.054 140.901 0,1%
21 Mazda 11.349 14.384 -21,1% 1,4% 1,3% 21 137.209 119.659 14,7%
22 Jeep 8.275 12.107 -31,7% 1,0% 1,1% 23 110.346 95.520 15,5%
23 Porsche 7.212 6.594 9,4% 0,9% 0,6% 26 59.334 57.641 2,9%
24 Honda 5.957 7.544 -21,0% 0,7% 0,7% 25 62.696 67.588 -7,2%
25 Mitsubishi 5.775 7.088 -18,5% 0,7% 0,6% 27 59.293 88.783 -33,2%
26 Land Rover 5.295 9.655 -45,2% 0,6% 0,9% 24 91.071 93.361 -2,5%
27 SAIC MG 4.820 2.581 86,7% 0,6% 0,2% 28 41.683 19.749 111,1%
28 Smart 4.145 3.756 10,4% 0,5% 0,3% 33 30.131 18.120 66,3%
29 DS 3.507 3.838 -8,6% 0,4% 0,3% 31 35.323 34.798 1,5%
30 Tesla 3.413 1.468 132,5% 0,4% 0,1% 22 116.972 66.058 77,1%
31 Lexus 3.320 4.059 -18,2% 0,4% 0,4% 29 40.511 38.492 5,2%
32 Lancia 3.019 4.729 -36,2% 0,4% 0,4% 30 38.429 34.109 12,7%
33 Polestar 2.781 1.417 96,3% 0,3% 0,1% 36 15.230 4.712 223,2%
34 Alfa Romeo 1.820 3.444 -47,2% 0,2% 0,3% 34 21.196 27.880 -24,0%
35 Subaru 1.747 1.875 -6,8% 0,2% 0,2% 35 17.293 15.287 13,1%
36 Jaguar 1.600 3.313 -51,7% 0,2% 0,3% 32 32.589 38.173 -14,6%
37 Lynk & Co 1.044 0 New 0,1% 0,0% 40 3.679 0 New
38 SSangYong 959 888 8,0% 0,1% 0,1% 37 8.413 8.303 1,3%
39 DR Motor 905 475 90,5% 0,1% 0,0% 38 6.118 2.636 132,1%
40 Maserati 409 299 36,8% 0,0% 0,0% 41 3.483 2.647 31,6%
41 BYD 363 0 New 0,0% 0,0% 47 863 0 New
42 Ferrari 311 305 2,0% 0,0% 0,0% 39 4.795 3.594 33,4%
43 Alpine 253 82 208,5% 0,0% 0,0% 44 1.775 956 85,7%
44 Bentley 211 253 -16,6% 0,0% 0,0% 42 2.330 2.496 -6,7%
45 Lamborghini 181 189 -4,2% 0,0% 0,0% 43 1.981 1.684 17,6%
46 Aston Martin 148 135 9,6% 0,0% 0,0% 45 1.722 1.293 33,2%
47 Lada 111 43 158,1% 0,0% 0,0% 46 1.303 1.944 -33,0%
48 Aiways 97 2 4750,0% 0,0% 0,0% 51 686 48 1329,2%
49 Genesis 66 New 0,0% 0,0% 54 486 0 New
50 Mahindra 57 136 -58,1% 0,0% 0,0% 48 785 1.100 -28,6%
51 Dodge 52 129 -59,7% 0,0% 0,0% 49 756 889 -15,0%
52 Great Wall 51 18 183,3% 0,0% 0,0% 50 707 304 132,6%
53 Rolls Royce 43 42 2,4% 0,0% 0,0% 52 536 488 9,8%
54 Chevrolet 43 24 79,2% 0,0% 0,0% 56 352 174 102,3%
55 Xpeng 43 0 New 0,0% 0,0% 55 438 0 New
56 Lotus 35 72 -51,4% 0,0% 0,0% 53 527 463 13,8%
57 Maxus 33 0 New 0,0% 0,0% 57 288 0 New
58 Seres 17 0 New 0,0% 0,0% 60 111 0 New
59 Chrysler 11 6 83,3% 0,0% 0,0% 61 78 71 9,9%
60 Nio 10 New 0,0% 0,0% 59 133 0 New
61 JAC 5 New 0,0% 0,0% 62 72 0 New
62 Hongqi 4 0 New 0,0% 0,0% 66 4 0 New
63 Geely 3 1 200,0% 0,0% 0,0% 65 9 68 -86,8%
64 Bugatti 2 0 0,0% 0,0% 63 20 18 11,1%
65 Infiniti 2 0 0,0% 0,0% #### 9 323 -97,2%

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

  1. “Strangely, while some media outlets are reporting Stellantis outselling Volkswagen Group this month, our data shows VW Group still ahead by 14,000 deliveries”.

    What is causing this dicrepancy??
    Why would f.i. the supervising authority ACEA be wrong?
    Why would you chose ‘our data’ over some other?

    All open questions ;))

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