Ford, GM European Sales Rise in August

By Paul Ausick Updated Apr 27, 9:37PM EDT · Published Sep 15, 7:35AM EDT

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The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) reported that new vehicle registrations in the European Union rose 11.2% year over year in August and were up 8.6% for the year to date. For the month, Germany led with 226,314 new registrations, followed by France with 92,048 and the United Kingdom with 79,060.

For the first eight months of 2015, new car registrations in Germany were up 5.6% to 2.14 million and sales in the United Kingdom were up 6.7% to 1.06 million. For the year to date, new registrations in the EU are up 8.6%, with the highest growth in Spain (up 22.3%) and Italy (up 15%).

Including all of Western Europe, the top-selling maker is Volkswagen Group, with total sales year to date of 2.27 million units, up 7% year over year. In August, VW’s sales totaled 197,591, up 5.1% from sales of 187,980 in August 2014. Sales of the company’s Porsche cars rose 30.5% in August and are up 30.6% year to date. VW’s market share for the year to date is 25.1%, down slightly from 25.5% at this point last year.

PSA Group, maker of Peugeot and Citroen, posted market share of 9.7% in August and 10.6% for the first eight months of the year. In third place was Renault Group, with an August share of 9.2% and a year-to-date share of 9.7%.

The top U.S. maker by market share in August was fourth-ranked Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), which claimed 6.8% of the European market, down from 7% a year ago. For the year to date, unit sales are up 7.3% to 660,084, but the company’s market share slipped from 7.4% in 2014.

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General Motors Co.’s (NYSE: GM) Opel Group nabbed fifth place, with August market share of 6.9%, up from 6.7% in August 2014. For the year to date, Opel’s unit registrations are up 0.6% and share has dropped from 7.4% to 6.8%.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) ranked sixth in August with a market share of 5.2%. Registrations of Fiat brand vehicles rose 14.7% in the month and are up 13.6% year to date. The big gain came in Jeep registrations, up 176.2% year to date, far higher than any other brand by any maker.

BMW Group posted a year-over-year gain of 21.4% in new registrations in August and year-to-date registrations are up 12.1%. The company’s Mini brand posted year-to-date unit sales growth of 30.7%. August market share rose from 6.6% a year ago to 7.2% and year to date the share is up from 6.1% to 6.3%.

Daimler saw Mercedes-Benz registrations rise 18% in August and 11.8% in the first eight months of 2015. The company’s market share for May came in at 6.3%, up from 5.6% a year ago, and share for the first eight months of the year rose from 5.3% to 5.7%.

The top-ranked Japanese automakers were Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) and Nissan with August market share of 4.2% and 3.3%, respectively. Toyota’s August share was flat with a year ago, while Nissan’s rose from 3.1%. For the year to date, Toyota’s unit sales rose 7.4% to 375,039 and Nissan’s unit sales rose 20.7% to 361,770.

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.