The 20 biggest car markets in the world: Russia on the up!
Red Square in Moscow, Russia. Picture by Andras Pfaff
* See the Top 20 biggest car markets in the world by clicking on the title! *
To give a bit of perspective to all the models data I publish here, I thought I would make a Top 20 biggest car markets ranking for 2011, with some figures still estimates. China leads with nearly 19 million sales but grows slower than the US this year at +5%. Japan falls by 14% but stays #3 ahead of Brazil (+3%) and Germany (+9%).
Exceptional performance of Russia, up 39% to 2.65 million units and going from #10 overall and #5 in Europe in 2010 to #6 and #2 behind just Germany this year! India also fares well at +12% and 2.3 million and stays #7. France, UK and Italy are all down. Notice also Indonesia (+17%), Turkey (+14%) and Argentina (+29%) all reaching their highest level ever, while Spain is down 3 spots to #19 (-18%).
I have also introduced the New Cars Per Thousand (NCPT) ratio which is the number of new cars purchased in 2011 per thousand inhabitants. Belgium leads at this little game with 53, followed by Canada (46), Australia (44) and the USA (41). Interestingly, Russia (19), Iran (19), Brazil (18) and Spain (18) are now all at the same level, while China is at 14 and India at 2.
Full Year 2011 Top 20 Ranking Table below.
Top 20 biggest car markets in the world – Full Year 2011:
| Pos | Market | 2011 | NCPT | /10 | 2010 | Pos |
| 1 | China (e) | 18,900,000 | 14 | 5% | 18,000,000 | 1 |
| 2 | USA | 12,778,171 | 41 | 10% | 11,588,783 | 2 |
| 3 | Japan (incl. Kei cars) | 4,416,077 | 35 | -14% | 5,138,218 | 3 |
| 4 | Brazil | 3,425,596 | 18 | 3% | 3,328,950 | 4 |
| 5 | Germany | 3,173,634 | 39 | 9% | 2,916,260 | 5 |
| 6 | Russia | 2,653,408 | 19 | 39% | 1,912,794 | 10 |
| 7 | India | 2,309,874 | 2 | 12% | 2,062,000 | 7 |
| 8 | France | 2,204,065 | 34 | -2% | 2,251,736 | 6 |
| 9 | UK | 1,941,253 | 31 | -4% | 2,030,846 | 8 |
| 10 | Italy | 1,757,649 | 29 | -11% | 1,974,026 | 9 |
| 11 | South Korea | 1,589,119 | 33 | -1% | 1,600,000 | 11 |
| 12 | Canada | 1,581,733 | 46 | 2% | 1,554,700 | 12 |
| 13 | Iran (e) | 1,414,000 | 19 | 6% | 1,331,000 | 13 |
| 14 | Australia | 1,008,437 | 44 | -3% | 1,035,574 | 14 |
| 15 | Mexico | 905,888 | 8 | 10% | 820,406 | 16 |
| 16 | Indonesia | 894,180 | 4 | 17% | 764,710 | 18 |
| 17 | Turkey | 864,439 | 12 | 14% | 760,913 | 19 |
| 18 | Argentina | 857,983 | 21 | 29% | 662,591 | 20 |
| 19 | Spain | 809,948 | 18 | -18% | 982,015 | 15 |
| 20 | Thailand | 792,000 | 11 | -1% | 800,000 | 17 |
Notes:
(e): BSCB estimate
NCPT: New Cars Per Thousand
The Japanese figure is composed of Japanese cars, imports and kei cars, each reported by separate organisations. The South Korean figure is composed of South Korean cars and imports, reported by a separate organisation and the 2010 figure is estimated. The Iranian figures are annualisations based on the last 8 months of the year.
The Chinese, USA, Canadian, Australian, Turkish and Thai figures include Light Commercial Vehicles.
Source: all usual sources for each country.
Inhabitants source: Wikipedia
Good analyses of the global automotive trend Matt.
Here in EU, we’re still asleep, complaining ‘what should have been’
@matgasnier
Total Turkey : 864.439
look at this link;
http://www.arabam.com/haber/Otomobille-Yasam-2011-Turkiye-otomotiv-pazari-toplam-satislari-rekor-kirdi/Detay-294360
Total Turkey : 864.439
look at this link;
http://www.arabam.com/haber/Otomobille-Yasam-2011-Turkiye-otomotiv-pazari-toplam-satislari-rekor-kirdi/Detay-294360
WHY NOT TURKEY ?
Hi Seyhan,
I do not have the final 2011 figure for Turkey yet, do you?
This is why it was not included. If it is above Belgium then I will amend the ranking.
Thanks!
Matt
very very interesting information! thanks Mat
No worries Achtung, glad you’re enjoying it!
cheers
Matt
Thanks for your answer, Matt !
I love this Volga M24 Estate…
The Belgian market seems to be more important than the Dutch market ? That’s strange : there are 16 million of inhabitants in the Netherlands, and only 11 million in Belgium !
Hi Max,
Yes the Netherlands are under Belgium, but just: it would rank #21 overall with 555,920 registrations and getting closer at +15% on 2010…
cheers
Matt
It should be worth noting that some figures are not directly comparable. For example, Australia’s sales figure includes heavy trucks (like Mack, Kenworth, etc.). USA sales figures exclude heavy trucks and commercial vehicles, and only count light vehicles. Heavy vehicles accounted for only 3% of total Australian sales.