Europe June 2018: Volkswagen, BMW lift market up 4.8%

The VW T-Roc breaks into the European Top 25 for the first time, the Golf drops 2.5%.

* See the Top 10 best-selling groups, Top 55 brands and Top 365 models by clicking on the title *

There was no June preliminary figures update by our partner JATO Dynamics at the end of July, so we jump straight to the complete groups, brands and models rankings for the month. The final July registrations figure for Europe 27 markets ex-Russia and Turkey is up 4.8% to 1.603.290 units. The Volkswagen Group vastly outpaces the European market with a 12.9% surge to just under 400.000 sales this month with the rest of the podium filled by French carmakers that however can’t match the market growth: the PSA Group is up 3.2% to remain in 2nd place at 256.000 units while Renault-Nissan is up 2.3% to just under 253.000 including Mitsubishi and Lada deliveries. But the most impressive this month is the BMW Group (+9%), up 4 spots on May to #4 and almost 112.000 units, an almost 10.000 unit-margin above FCA (-2.8%). Hyundai-Kia (+8.9%) also post a strong uplift, distancing Ford Motor (-4.5%) and Daimler AG (-4.4%) while Toyota Motor (+8.6%) and Geely Group (+29%) both soar in the tail end of the Top 10.

The X1 (+72.4%) helps BMW European sales rise 11.6% in June.

Brand-wise, Volkswagen (+16.5%) does even better than its namesake Group to solidly cement its European domination, leaving in its wake Renault (+1.2%) and Peugeot (+6.9%) up one spot. Ford (-4.5%) and Opel (-3.9%), both in difficulty, round up the Top 5 with BMW (+11.6%) the only other Top 10 marque to score a double-digit gain this month. Toyota (+8.6%), Skoda (+7.9%), Citroen (+6.9%) and Audi (+6.5%) also outpace the market near the top but it’s Volvo (+28.8%), Dacia (+19.3%), Seat (+18.3%) and Kia (+12.2%) that impress the most in the Top 20. Further down, MG (+177.4%), Jeep (+70.8%), Tesla (+35.9%), Subaru (+35.6%), DS (+27.2%), Ferrari (+27.1%), Jaguar (+26.8%), Mitsubishi (+22.9%), Lada (+15.4%), Smart (+15.3%) and Porsche (+13.4%) make themselves noticed.

The Tiguan (+43.2%) makes it 3 VWs in the Top 4 for only the 4th time in history.

Over in the models ranking, the VW Golf (-2.5%) stays on top but records its second consecutive decline after posting 7 months of double-digit gains in the previous 8. Worse, its gap over the #2, the Renault Clio (+10.2%), has thawed to just 4.000 units, that’s the smallest level since the Golf was trumped by the Ford Fiesta for the European top spot in March 2017. The VW Polo (+10%) and most strikingly the Tiguan (+43.2%) make it three VWs in the Top 4 for the second consecutive month and only the fourth time in history after August 2015 (Golf, Polo, Passat) and April 2017 (Golf, Polo, Tiguan). Note that Tiguan sales include the Allspace 7-seater variant, and as is the case for H1 (see our H1 report), adding sales of the Peugeot 3008 and 5008 leads to a higher volume, labelling the Peugeot tandem as the unofficial #1 SUV in Europe. As for the Renault Captur (+11.2%), it breaks into the European Top 5 for only the third time ever after June 2017 (#5) and December 2017 (#3), while the Dacia Sandero (+3.8%) brilliantly manages a third consecutive month inside the Top 10 at #8.

The Dacia Duster shoots up 48.7% year-on-year across Europe in July.

The Peugeot 208 (-5.4%), now that German rental deals are off, is knocked out of the Top 10 for the first time in almost 3 years (since July 2015). The Dacia Duster (+48.7%), Peugeot 3008 (+13.5%) and Toyota Yaris (+12%) post the only other double-digit gains in the Top 20. Further down, the Opel Crossland X (+132.2%), Ford Ecosport (+102.7%), BMW X1 (+72.4%), BMW X3 (+55.8%), Kia Picanto (+36.4%), VW Transporter (+34.7%) and Mercedes GLC (+31.6%) shine.  Among recent launches, the VW T-Roc (#24) breaks into the European Top 25 for the first time, the Citroen C3 Aircross (#41) improves its best ranking by two spots, the Seat Arona (#49) scores its first ever Top 50 finish, with the Skoda Karoq (#59), BMW X2 (#117), Alpine A110 (#272) and Jaguar i-Pace (#284) also posting new ranking records.

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One year ago: Europe June 2017: First Top 5 ranking for the Renault Captur

Full June 2018 Top 10 groups, Top 55 brands and Top 365 models below.