Europe September 2022: Skoda, Mercedes, Ford lift market up 7.9%, Tesla Model Y #1

Skoda sales are up 41% year-on-year in Europe in September.

1/11 update: Now with Top 70 all brands and Top 407 all models.

28/10 update: Now with Top 20 models.

Data by ACEA has the European market (EU+EFTA+UK) up 7.9% year-on-year in September to 1,049,926 sales. In a sign that its fortunes may have turned around, this is the market’s second consecutive year-on-year gain. The year-to-date tally is now off -9.7% or almost 900,000 units to 8,271,115. Among the Top 5 markets, Germany (+14.1%) and Spain (+12.7%) outpace the general growth, whereas France (+5.5%), Italy (+5.4%), the UK (+4.6%) trail it. Bulgaria (+46.4%) is the most dynamic market in Europe this month ahead of Ireland (+42.2%), Latvia (+39.7%), Romania (+33.4%) and Greece (+30.2%). In the naughty corner we have Norway (-18.6%), Slovakia (-9.7%), Slovenia (-8.5%) and Denmark (-8.5%).

In the groups ranking, the VW Group (+20.4%) posts a stellar gain (the largest in the Top 6) as it sails off in the distance with almost 250,000 sales. Below, Stellantis (-2.6%), Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi (-0.2%) and Hyundai-Kia (-7.2%) go against the market and drop sales year-on-year. Toyota Group (+11.5%) displays a solid uptick as do Daimler (+27.8%) and Ford Motor (+31.5%). The BMW Group (+1.5%) is more discreet. Tesla (+22.6%) is back inside the Top 10.

The Tesla Model Y is the best-selling vehicle in Europe this month.

Brand-wise, strikingly the entire Top 4 outpaces the market: Volkswagen is up 18% at #1, Toyota up 15.2% at #2, Mercedes up 43.1% at #3 and Ford up 30.3% and up six spots on last month to #4. BMW (-5.1%) retrogrades two ranks on August to #5 while Skoda (+39.6%) also impresses. Audi (+26.7%) also shines in the remainder of the Top 10 with Peugeot (+9.4%) also beating the market, but Renault (-9%) and Kia (-6.9%) all recede. Further down, Dacia (+12.6%), Tesla (+24%) nearly at record volumes, Nissan (+13.3%), Mini (+32%) and MG (+73.8%) stand out. Cupra (+128.3%) is up to #20 and outsells sister brand Seat (-51%) by a large margin (over 4,000 sales) and for the first time ever.

As predicted, the Tesla Model Y (+227.3%) is the best-seller this month by almost 10,000 units, keeping in mind we have virtually one quarter’s worth of sales condensed into one month. The Model Y is #1 in Germany and #2 in the UK this month and ranks #25 year-to-date. The Peugeot 208 (+41.1%) surges ahead to cement its YTD top spot above the Dacia Sandero (-1.4%). The Skoda Octavia (+197.5%) catches up on months of disrupted production and climbs five spots on August to #4 overall, its best ranking since July 2020 (#3). The Toyota Yaris (+19%) is down one rank to #5 while the leader of the past two months, the VW T-Roc (+60.8%) continues to soar year-on-year but is down five spots to #6. It sells just 6 units more than the VW Golf (-8.4%). The Nissan Qashqai (+68.8%) is helped by a victory in the UK to #9 from #31 in August and the VW Polo (+23.1%) is up 8 ranks to #10.

Previous month: Europe August 2022: Peugeot, Mercedes, Dacia help market up 3.4%, VW T-Roc #1 again

One year ago: Europe September 2021: Tesla Model 3 best-seller in market down -25.2%

Full September 2022 Top 10 groups, Top 70 all brands and Top 407 all models below.