Belgium Full Year 2018: Volkswagen signs first win since 2014, BMW best-seller for two months

Volkswagen is the #1 brand in Belgium, with the Golf topping the models charts.

Consult 30 years of Belgian Historical Data here.

This article has been updated with the Top 290 All-models.

New car sales in Belgium edge up 0.7% in 2018 to 549.632 registrations. Volkswagen (+4.5%) drives past Renault (-1.4%) to snap its first annual brands win since 2014, topping the monthly ranking 8 times vs. just 2 for Renault. Peugeot (+1.8%) advances one spot to #3, overtaking BMW (-5%) down to #4 even though it historically led the brands charts outright in both September and October, two monthly heavily disrupted by post-WLTP hangover from brands having overused artificial sales during summer (looking at you VW). Strikingly, all remaining Top 10 brands bar Hyundai (+11%) are in negative, with Audi (-13.8%), Opel (-8.3%), Citroen (-5.4%) and Mercedes (-5.1%) hit hard, Ford (-2.6%) less so. Further down, Volvo (+11.8%) gains 3 spots to end the year at #11, with Jeep (+89.8%), Mitsubishi (+29.5%), Seat (+27.7%), Lotus (+25.9%), Aston Martin (+23.9%), Jeep (+22.7%), Alfa Romeo (+15.4%), Mazda (+12.5%) and Kia (+10.1%) among the best performers.

The Belgium models ranking is one of the most fragmented in the world, with the VW Golf (+7.5%) snapping the top spot for the 8th time in the past 9 years and the 23rd in the past 31 despite a particularly low 2.5% share. The Renault Clio (+2.3%) and Hyundai Tucson (+0.1%) complete a podium unchanged on 2017. The VW Tiguan surges into 4th place (it was outside the 2017 Top 10), with the Nissan Qashqai (+21.7%) also posting a very impressive gain at #5 while the Renault Scenic (+15.4%) and Skoda Octavia (+1.6%) also shine.

Previous month: Belgium November 2018: Volkswagen back to #1, Skoda shines in market down 14.7%

Previous year: Belgium 2017: VW Golf #1, BMW X1 up to 5th place

Two years ago: Belgium 2016: VW Golf back to #1, Hyundai Tucson on podium

Full Year 2018 Top 65 All-brands and Top 290 models below.

Full December 2018 Top 45 All-brands and Top 8 models below.