After a depressed August, the European passenger car market manages its first increase of the year in September, albeit a a small one with sales up by less than 1%. In absolute terms, September edges out July as the biggest month of 2020 so far with 1.29 million deliveries. The year-to-date figure improves only slightly to -27.9% with 8.63 million deliveries. Among the five major European markets, losses were seen in Spain (-13.5%), the UK (-4.4%) and France (-3%), while Italy (+9.5%) and Germany (+8.4%) showed solid gains.
Sales of car models (hatchback, sedan, stationwagon, coupe and convertible) are down 2.7% to 53.6% share. Crossover and SUV sales are up 5.1% to top 40.6% share, and MPV sales are up 3.7% to 5.8% share. Within these figures, EVs and PHEVs are up 166% to around 160,000 registrations in September, EVs were up 120% to nearly 92,000 deliveries and PHEVs were up 268% to just over 68,000 deliveries. The share of plug-in cars stood at 12% in September (7.1% for pure EVs alone). The Year-To-Date share of EVs and PHEVs now stands at 9% (4.9% for EVs).
September 2020 Manufacturers
Volkswagen Group scores a double digit gain in September, with 13.1% more deliveries but stays below the 300,000 level it easily hit in September 2015, 2016 and 2017. PSA is down 14.9% and is fewer than 9,000 sales ahead of Renault-Nissan for the month, the latter gaining share at +2.1%. For the third consecutive month and for the fourth time this year, Hyundai-Kia is in fourth place among manufacturers with sales up 1%, outselling BMW AG whose sales are down 11.6%. Rival Daimler AG is down 10% while Ford Motor Company sees 4.4% fewer deliveries in September. That allows Toyota Motor to close in for 7th place with sales up 9.3%, while FCA scores its first year-on-year improvement of 2020, and convincingly so at +13.7% which makes it the best performing top-10 manufacturer. Suzuki also scores its first win of the year with an impressive 54.3% recovery. Geely Group continues its strong form at +4.6% but Tata Motors and Mazda lose by large double digits. Big winner of Septbember is SAIC Motor with a new monthly sales record
| Group | September 2020 |
September 2019 |
change | YTD 2020 | YTD 2019 | change | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Group | 291.998 | 258.091 | 13,1% | 2.166.674 | 3.831.953 | -43,5% |
| 2 | PSA | 178.964 | 210.344 | -14,9% | 1.247.053 | 1.939.610 | -35,7% |
| 3 | Renault-Nissan | 170.077 | 166.514 | 2,1% | 1.164.615 | 1.670.168 | -30,3% |
| 4 | Hyundai-Kia | 97.157 | 96.178 | 1,0% | 621.749 | 794.059 | -21,7% |
| 5 | BMW AG | 90.383 | 102.299 | -11,6% | 603.302 | 771.321 | -21,8% |
| 6 | Daimler AG | 84.323 | 93.661 | -10,0% | 527.795 | 755.823 | -30,2% |
| 7 | Ford Motor Comp. | 82.587 | 86.357 | -4,4% | 517.169 | 754.602 | -31,5% |
| 8 | Toyota Motor | 79.458 | 72.682 | 9,3% | 497.307 | 602.045 | -17,4% |
| 9 | Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles | 76.876 | 67.628 | 13,7% | 482.049 | 721.255 | -33,2% |
| 10 | Geely Group | 32.213 | 30.809 | 4,6% | 205.722 | 249.388 | -17,5% |
| 11 | Suzuki | 23.271 | 15.080 | 54,3% | 122.732 | 201.889 | -39,2% |
| 12 | Tata Motors | 21.400 | 26.256 | -18,5% | 118.566 | 174.998 | -32,2% |
| 13 | Mazda | 19.946 | 24.734 | -19,4% | 105.275 | 179.138 | -41,2% |
| 14 | Tesla Motors | 18.777 | 19.560 | -4,0% | 64.590 | 75.989 | -15,0% |
| 15 | Honda | 11.807 | 11.326 | 4,2% | 60.052 | 96.350 | -37,7% |
| 16 | SAIC | 4.112 | 1.369 | 200,4% | 16.368 | 9.360 | 74,9% |
| 17 | Subaru Corp. | 2.097 | 2.118 | -1,0% | 13.412 | 21.694 | -38,2% |
| 18 | Mahindra & Mahindra | 1.193 | 1.048 | 13,8% | 8.331 | 10.831 | -23,1% |
| 19 | Aston Martin | 140 | 262 | -46,6% | 1.052 | 1.967 | -46,5% |
| 20 | General Motors | 34 | 60 | -43,3% | 196 | 2.771 | -92,9% |
September 2020 Brands
In the brands ranking, Volkswagen scores its first improvement of the year with a 6.1% gain, while the rest of the top-4 is still in the red, with just 240 sales separating Renault and Ford, the latter benefiting from a traditionally big September month in the UK, where Ford is relatively strong. Mercedes-Benz is also not far behind, but the luxury brand drops 2 places from last year’s impresse #2 spot. Peugeot slightly improves in 5th place, while Toyota jumps into 6th place with a double digit gain. BMW loses share but Skoda and especially Audi score big wins for VW Group this month. For Audi, its 42.2% gain is actually just a return to normal September levels after having had 2 very depressed years. Opel/Vauxhall is down by a horrifying 33% but its sales should start to stabilize from next month, as September 2019 was the last month of sales for its minicars Karl/Viva and Adam as well as the Mokka X. An all-new generation of the Mokka will arrive in showrooms shortly and together with the new design language it introduces, should be the starting point of the brand’s road to recovery in Europe.
Fiat is up 11.8% to outsell Hyundai again, and even though Kia was slightly behind its sister brand in September, it looks set to become the best selling South-Korean brand in Europe this year for the first time ever. Citroën is down 10.3% while Dacia recovers at +14% while Seat and Nissan gain some share again. Volvo sales are slightly down but this is more than made up for with the 2,335 Polestar deliveries, which is of course a record for the new EV brand which already outsells Subaru. Mini and Mazda struggle with 19% declines while Tesla has its third-biggest month in Europe, after December 2019 (>24k) and September last year. Land Rover barely manages to stay ahead of Jeep, the latter with surging sales after updating the smallest models in its range. Honda shows a rare improvement in Europe, but Mitsubishi is stuck in the red after its announcement to withdraw from the market. Lexus moves ahead of Jaguar in what is traditionally a strong month for the British brand, and Porsche’s 3-month winning streak comes to an abrupt end with a loss of nearly 20%. Among other upper luxury brands, Bentley (+48.6%) and Ferrari (+30.1%) are doing well and are even in the black YTD, but Aston Martin (-46.6%) and Rolls Royce (-19.7%) are struggling.
| Brand | September 2020 |
September 2019 |
change | 2020 share | YTD rank | 2020 | change | |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 124.562 | 117.413 | 6,1% | 9,7% | 1 | 943.056 | -28,8% |
| 2 | Renault | 82.827 | 84.872 | -2,4% | 6,4% | 2 | 584.542 | -26,9% |
| 3 | Ford | 82.587 | 86.356 | -4,4% | 6,4% | 4 | 517.167 | -31,5% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz | 81.326 | 87.973 | -7,6% | 6,3% | 5 | 513.431 | -24,2% |
| 5 | Peugeot | 76.298 | 75.022 | 1,7% | 5,9% | 2 | 535.876 | -27,6% |
| 6 | Toyota | 73.026 | 65.654 | 11,2% | 5,7% | 7 | 462.874 | -17,4% |
| 7 | BMW | 68.462 | 75.122 | -8,9% | 5,3% | 6 | 479.150 | -21,3% |
| 8 | Skoda | 63.534 | 55.876 | 13,7% | 4,9% | 8 | 461.672 | -9,2% |
| 9 | Audi | 61.192 | 43.046 | 42,2% | 4,8% | 9 | 432.395 | -25,0% |
| 10 | Opel/Vauxhall | 54.749 | 81.729 | -33,0% | 4,3% | 10 | 350.974 | -47,7% |
| 11 | Fiat | 52.709 | 47.127 | 11,8% | 4,1% | 11 | 268.502 | -45,8% |
| 12 | Hyundai | 48.734 | 51.702 | -5,7% | 3,8% | 14 | 284.784 | -31,5% |
| 13 | Kia | 48.423 | 44.476 | 8,9% | 3,8% | 13 | 316.925 | -16,3% |
| 14 | Citroën | 44.459 | 49.571 | -10,3% | 3,5% | 12 | 329.243 | -32,9% |
| 15 | Dacia | 42.223 | 37.052 | 14,0% | 3,3% | 15 | 283.969 | -35,7% |
| 16 | Seat | 36.543 | 34.352 | 6,4% | 2,8% | 16 | 274.364 | -30,1% |
| 17 | Nissan | 35.864 | 33.745 | 6,3% | 2,8% | 17 | 211.311 | -31,0% |
| 18 | Volvo | 29.801 | 30.749 | -3,1% | 2,3% | 18 | 202.010 | -7,4% |
| 19 | Suzuki | 23.271 | 15.080 | 54,3% | 1,8% | 20 | 122.732 | -39,2% |
| 20 | Mini | 21.823 | 27.055 | -19,3% | 1,7% | 19 | 123.706 | -23,6% |
| 21 | Mazda | 19.946 | 24.734 | -19,4% | 1,5% | 21 | 105.275 | -41,2% |
| 22 | Tesla | 18.777 | 19.560 | -4,0% | 1,5% | 25 | 64.590 | -15,0% |
| 23 | Land Rover | 15.726 | 17.776 | -11,5% | 1,2% | 22 | 83.706 | -26,2% |
| 24 | Jeep | 14.462 | 11.421 | 26,6% | 1,1% | 23 | 83.413 | -35,3% |
| 25 | Honda | 11.807 | 11.326 | 4,2% | 0,9% | 26 | 60.052 | -37,7% |
| 26 | Mitsubishi | 9.018 | 10.406 | -13,3% | 0,7% | 24 | 81.695 | -27,4% |
| 27 | Lexus | 6.432 | 7.028 | -8,5% | 0,5% | 29 | 34.433 | -17,6% |
| 28 | Jaguar | 5.674 | 8.480 | -33,1% | 0,4% | 28 | 34.860 | -43,3% |
| 29 | Porsche | 5.598 | 6.985 | -19,9% | 0,4% | 27 | 51.047 | -5,3% |
| 30 | Lancia | 4.701 | 4.158 | 13,1% | 0,4% | 31 | 29.380 | -35,7% |
| 31 | SAIC MG | 4.112 | 1.369 | 200,4% | 0,3% | 33 | 16.368 | 74,9% |
| 32 | Alfa Romeo | 4.084 | 4.116 | -0,8% | 0,3% | 32 | 24.436 | -41,5% |
| 33 | DS | 3.458 | 4.022 | -14,0% | 0,3% | 30 | 30.960 | -17,4% |
| 34 | Smart | 2.997 | 5.688 | -47,3% | 0,2% | 34 | 14.364 | -81,8% |
| 35 | Polestar | 2.335 | New | 0,2% | 38 | 3.285 | New | |
| 36 | Subaru | 2.097 | 2.118 | -1,0% | 0,2% | 35 | 13.412 | -38,2% |
| 37 | SSangYong | 1.061 | 993 | 6,8% | 0,1% | 36 | 7.415 | -25,5% |
| 38 | DR Motor | 437 | 123 | 255,3% | 0,0% | 41 | 2.161 | -27,8% |
| 39 | Bentley | 370 | 249 | 48,6% | 0,0% | 40 | 2.930 | 15,5% |
| 40 | Ferrari | 359 | 276 | 30,1% | 0,0% | 37 | 3.289 | 9,4% |
| 41 | Maserati | 337 | 359 | -6,1% | 0,0% | 39 | 2.348 | -47,4% |
| 42 | Aston Martin | 140 | 262 | -46,6% | 0,0% | 44 | 1.052 | -46,5% |
| 43 | Lamborghini | 135 | 148 | -8,8% | 0,0% | 43 | 1.495 | -18,2% |
| 44 | Mahindra | 132 | 55 | 140,0% | 0,0% | 45 | 916 | 4,3% |
| 45 | Dodge | 125 | 122 | 2,5% | 0,0% | 47 | 760 | -22,2% |
| 46 | Rolls Royce | 98 | 122 | -19,7% | 0,0% | 48 | 446 | -26,5% |
| 47 | Alpine | 76 | 96 | -20,8% | 0,0% | 46 | 798 | -77,5% |
| 48 | Lada | 68 | 219 | -68,9% | 0,0% | 42 | 1.901 | -56,1% |
| 49 | Lotus | 63 | 56 | 12,5% | 0,0% | 49 | 360 | -17,6% |
| 50 | Great Wall | 50 | 8 | 525,0% | 0,0% | 52 | 286 | 483,7% |
| 51 | Chevrolet | 30 | 37 | -18,9% | 0,0% | 52 | 150 | -93,1% |
| 52 | Geely | 14 | 4 | 250,0% | 0,0% | 53 | 67 | -13,0% |
| 53 | Chrysler | 7 | 10 | -30,0% | 0,0% | 54 | 65 | -32,3% |
| 54 | Cadillac | 3 | 20 | -85,0% | 0,0% | 55 | 41 | -93,0% |
| 55 | Infiniti | 1 | 124 | -99,2% | 0,0% | 50 | 323 | -86,5% |
| 56 | Bugatti | 1 | 3 | -66,7% | 0,0% | 56 | 18 | -25,0% |
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