Europe June 2019: Seat, Dacia, Toyota defy market diving -7.9%, Sandero and Duster in Top 7 for 1st time

Seat sales are up 5.4% in Europe in June, the largest gain in the Top 20.

07/08/2019 update: Now with the Top 55 brands and Top 350 models.

27/07/2019 update: Now with the Top 100 models.

26/07/2019 update: Now with actuals for the Top 25 brands and models.

According to ACEA figures covering the European Union and EFTA (30 markets), new car sales in Europe return to decline for the 9th time in the past 10 months in June at -7.9% year-on-year to 1.491.285 units, the lowest since 2015 and pulling the YTD tally down -3.1% to 8.426.190. Diesel sales are down 21% to 31% share, petrol sales drop -2.5% to improve to 60% share and electrified vesicles gain 20% to 7.5% of the European market. All main countries are down: Italy (-2.1%), Germany (-4.7%), the UK (-4.9%), Spain (-8.3%) and France (-9.4%) which some analysts say is due to fewer working days than in June 2018. Only 5 markets out of 30 manage a gain in June: Romania (+14.2%), Ireland (+13%), Greece (+4.5%), Slovakia (+0.3%) and Cyprus (+0.9%) whereas at the other end of the scale we find Sweden (-52%), Iceland (-47.7%), Lithuania (-27.4%), Latvia (-17%), the Czech Republic (-15.6%), Austria (-14.4%), the Netherlands (-11.6%), Switzerland (-11.2%) and Belgium (-11%), some of them handicapped by higher pricing for polluting vehicles.

Tesla is up 6 spots on May to #23 overall.

Still based on ACEA figures, the VW Group (-9.6%), although still comfortably #1 in Europe, is among the hardest hit alongside the BMW Group (-10.1%), FCA (-13.5%) and Geely/Volvo (-21.7%). The podium is unchanged with both the PSA Group and Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi down -8.2%. In fact Toyota Motor (+2.2%) is the only Top 10 group to manage a year-on-year gain in June in Europe, with Hyundai-Kia (-2.8%) and Ford Motor (-5.4%) also gaining share vs. June 2018.

Brand-wise following JATO data, below Volkswagen (-13.8%) enduring the largest loss in the Top 10, Renault (-6.3%), Peugeot (-9.5%), Ford (-5.4%) and Opel (-9.6%) camp on their May and YTD rankings to complete the Top 5. The premium leaders BMW (-10.6%), Mercedes (-8.2%) and Audi (-9.2%) all take a hit. Replicating the groups situation, Toyota (+3.2%) is the only gainer in the Top 12, joined by Seat (+5.4%), Dacia (+3.6%) and Suzuki (+1.4%) in the Top 20, and DR Motor (+262.5%), Tesla (+250%), Alpine (+66.2%), Lotus (+63.8%), Lamborghini (+45.3%), MG (+23.8%), Lancia (+8.9%), Lexus (+5.7%) DS (+6.3%) and Jeep (+0.8%) further down. In the naughty corner: Nissan (-26.9%), Volvo (-22.5%) and Fiat (-17%).

Dacia places the Sandero at #6 and the Duster at #7.

In the models ranking, the VW Golf (-13.9%) now only has a 1.600-unit advantage over the Renault Clio (-9.9%) while the Renault Captur (+5.2%) benefits from end-of-generation discounts to leap to third place overall for only the second time ever after December 2017. The VW Tiguan (-15.3%) and Polo (-32.1%) endure heavy losses and round up the Top 5 just above the Dacia Sandero (+4.5%) and Duster (+10.8%), the latter being the only double-digit gainer in the Top 10. This is the Duster’s highest ever European ranking (also hit in August 2018) and only 4th Top 10 finish after #9 in December 2017 and #10 last month. Dacia therefore places its two hit nameplates inside the European Top 7 for the first time ever. (previous record: 2 in 8 in August 2018). The Mercedes A-Class (+42%), Ford Focus (+21.7%) and VW T-Roc (+14.4%) also shine in the remainder of the Top 20.

The Toyota Corolla is lifted to a record #21 by its new generation, the Tesla Model 3 is up 102 spots on May to #39, the VW T-Cross is up 13 to break into the Top 50 for the first time at #43, with the Volvo XC40 (+75.8%), Opel Karl (+71%), Hyundai Kona (+70.4%), Toyota RAV4 (+41.2%), Kia Cee’d (+40.9%), Audi Q3 (+40.6%), Opel Crossland X (+23.5%), Renault Twingo (+21.3%) and Seat Arona (+13.8%) among the most dynamic in the remainder of the Top 100. Across 22 markets and according to JATO, the Toyota Corolla (13.083) is the best-selling Hybrid in Europe above the RAV4 (8.772), C-HR (8.678), Yaris (7.613) and Range Rover Evoque (3.139). The Tesla Model 3 tops EVs ahead of the Renault Zoe (4.795), BMW i3 (2.478), VW Golf (2.294) and Nissan Leaf (2.243) and the Mitsubishi Outlander (3.528) is the most popular PHEV, distancing the Mini Countryman (1.109), Kia Niro (1.010), BMW 2 Series Active Tourer (922) and Mercedes E-Class (811).

Previous month: Europe May 2019: Germany pulls market to first gain in 9 months (+0.04%), BMW shines, Fiat 500 hits record ranking

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

Full June 2019 Top 10 groups, Top 55 brands and Top 350 models below.