Cars and Drivers

Ford Market Share in Europe Dips in April, Jeep Leads Chrysler to Gain

Paul Ausick

Published: May 13, 2016 12:10 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 8:05 am

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) reported Friday that new vehicle registrations in the European Union rose 9.1% in April, compared with new registrations in April of 2015. New registrations for last month totaled 1.27 million units. For the month, Germany led with 315,921 new registrations, followed by the United Kingdom with 189,505 and France with 182,863.

For the first four months of 2016, total sales for the 27 EU members came to 5.01 million, up 8.5% compared with the four months of last year. Germany posted a four-month total of 1.11 million, while registrations in the United Kingdom totaled 961,285 and new registrations in France rose to 699,245.

New car registrations have now posted year-over-year monthly increases for 32 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 European Union is Volkswagen, which sold 321,286 vehicles in April, up 5.4% year over year. VW’s market share for the month totaled 25.2%, up from 23% in March 2016 and down from 26.1% in April 2015.

PSA Group, makers of Peugeot and Citroen, among other brands, was the second-leading company in terms of market share for April, with 10.5% of the EU market. Renault Group, with 10.3% of the market, was third.

Of the Detroit Three, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) sold 87,291 units in April, up 5.1% year over year. The company’s April 2016 market share came to 6.9%, down from 7.2% in April 2015. Ford sold 369,045 units in the first four months of the year, earning 7.2% of the market, down 0.2 points compared with the first four months of 2015.

Opel Group, the General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) subsidiary in Europe, posted an April market share of 6.4%, down 0.1 point compared with April of last year. Sales of the Opel/Vauxhall brands rose 6.4% year over year. In the first four months of 2016, Opel Group raised its share from 6.7% a year ago to 6.8%.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) increased its April market share in the EU from 6.6% to 6.9% year over year, led by a 25.2% increase in sales of the company’s Jeep brand. FCA posted new registrations totaling 349,772 for the first four months of the year and grew its year-over-year market share from 6.4% to 6.9%.

BMW Group’s market share in April rose from 6.2% last year to 6.3%, and the company sold 80,622 units last month. For the first four months of 2016, BMW’s market share rose from 6.2% a year ago to 6.4% on sales of 325,123 units.

Daimler also posted a market share gain, rising from 5.6% in April 2015 to 6.2% last month. For the first four months of the year, the Mercedes-Benz maker posted a year-over-year share gain of 0.4 points to 5.9%.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) posted market share of 3.9% in April, up 0.1 point compared with last year. For the first four months of the year, the car maker’s market share dipped from 4.3% a year ago to 4.2%.