Europe June 2016: VW down 1%, Renault up 21% in market up 6.5%

The Renault Mégane hits its highest European ranking in two years. 

* See the Top 10 best-selling brands and Top 20 models by clicking on the title *

New car sales in Europe – 29 countries excluding Russia and Turkey – celebrate 34 consecutive months of year-on-year gains in June with deliveries up 6.5% to 1.506.391 units, with the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate coming in at 15.5 million units vs. 14.2 million over the Full Year 2015. Eastern European countries are pulling the overall market up with Latvia (+56%), Croatia (+32%), Hungary (+32%), Poland (+27%), Serbia (+27%), Czech Republic (+21%), Lithuania (+20%) and Slovenia (+19%) forming 8 of the 9 best performing markets this month. Reversely, the UK (-1%), Greece (-1.5%), Estonia (-2%), Norway (-3%), Switzerland (-6%) and Romania (-37%) are the only market posting a decline in June.

Audi A4 sales are up 30% year-on-year in June.

Market leader Volkswagen continues to underperform with sales down 1% to 165.079 whereas Renault shows particularly strong gains at +21% to 134.494. Ford (-2%), Opel (+0.1%) and Peugeot (+0.6%) follow. BMW manages to win the luxury race with stable sales at 82.214 vs. 80.936 for Mercedes (+16%) and 75.354 for Audi (+14.5%). Rounding up the Top 10, Fiat (+13%) and Skoda (+8%) both outpace the market.

The Opel Astra is up 25% to #6 

Model-wise, the VW Golf posts a 75th consecutive month atop the European sales charts (the last time it did not rank #1 in Europe was over 6 years ago in March 2010) but drops 5% to 46.946 sales. The Renault Clio is up 18% to #2, increasing the gap with the VW Polo (-3%), Ford Fiesta (-14%) and Opel Corsa (+4%). Boosted by their new generation, the Opel Astra is up 25% to #6, the Audi A4 up 30% to #19 and the Renault Megane is up 34% to #13, its best ranking since June 2014. Finally the Renault Captur follows the market (+6%) to rank 7th, its best-ever European position, also hit in June 2014 and June 2015.

Previous post: Europe May 2016: Discover the Top 350 models and All-brands

Previous month: Europe May 2016: Market soars 15% boosted by Renault and Fiat

One year ago: Europe June 2015: Renault Captur equals all-time record #7 spot

Full June 2016 Top 10 brands and Top 20 models below.