Cars and Drivers

Ford, Chrysler European Sales Added Share in January

Paul Ausick

Published: February 16, 2016 12:50 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 1:08 pm

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) reported that new vehicle registrations in the European Union rose 6.2% in January, compared with new registrations in January of 2015. New registrations for the month totaled 1.06 million units. Germany led with 218,365 new registrations in the month, followed by the United Kingdom with 169,678 and France with 138,400.

New car registrations have now posted year-over-year increases for 29 consecutive months. Among the 27 members of the EU, consumers purchased 13.71 million new vehicles in 2015, up 9.3% year over year.

The top-selling maker in the EU is Volkswagen, which sold 256,989 vehicles in January, up 0.8% year over year for the month. VW’s market share for the month totaled 24.2%, down from 24.6% in December 2014 and from 25.5% in January 2015.

PSA Group, makers of Peugeot and Citroen among other brands, was the second-leading company in terms of market share in 2015, with 10.6% of the EU market. Renault Group, with 9.1% of the market, was third.

Of the Detroit Three, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) sold 75,710 units in January, up 11.4% for the month. The company’s January 2016 market share came to 7.1%, up from 6.8% in January 2015. Ford sold just under a million units in 2015, up 8.6% compared with 2014.

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Opel Group, the General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) subsidiary in Europe, also posted a January market share increase, rising from 6.3% a year ago to 6.7% this year. Sales of the Opel/Vauxhall brands rose 12.8% year over year.

BMW Group’s market share in January slipped from 6.1% in 2015 to 5.8%, and the company sold 62,977 units last month. Daimler posted a market share gain, rising from 5.6% in January 2015 to 5.8% last month.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) posted market share of 4.8% in January, down from 4.9% a year ago. Sales volume rose 12.2% to 50,511 units. The largest percentage increase came in the company’s Lexus divisions, up 8.4% year over year.