Ford, GM Left Behind as EU September Sales Set Record

Cars and Drivers

Published: October 14, 2016 7:25 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 2:25 am

New car registrations in the European Union for the month of September totaled 1.46 million units, a volume record for the month. Year over year, sales rose more than 17% in Italy, nearly 14% in Spain and more than 6% in Germany. Including the four nations in the European Free Trade Association, total sales rose 7.3% to nearly 1.5 million units in the month.

For the first nine months of 2016, total sales for the 27 EU members came to 11.24 million, up 8% compared with the first nine months of last year. Germany posted a four-month total of 2.56 million, while registrations in the United Kingdom totaled 2.15 million and new registrations in France rose to 1.5 million, just ahead of 1.4 million unit sales in Italy.

Among the Detroit Three carmakers, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) saw its market share dip year over year in September from 7.8% to 7.2%, and General Motors Co.’s (NYSE: GM) Opel Group experienced a sales decline from 7.1% to 6.9%. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) posted year-over-year growth of 0.4 percentage points, rising from 5.7% in September 2015 to 6.1% this past September.

For the year to date, Ford’s market share has dropped from 7.2% to 7.0% even though unit sales of 811,778 have risen by 4.3% compared with the first nine months of 2015. Opel Group’s share has dipped from 6.8% to 6.7% on unit sales of 778,567, up 6.5% over the first nine months of last year, and FCA’s market share has risen from 6.2% a year ago to 6.6% on unit sales of 767,909, up 15.3% compared with the first nine months of 2015.

The top-selling carmaker in the EU is Volkswagen, which sold 343,145 vehicles in September, up 5.6% year over year for the month. VW’s market share for the month totaled 22.9%, down from 23.3% in September 2015.

Renault Group was the second-leading company in terms of market share for September with 8.7% of the EU market. PSA Group, makers of Peugeot and Citroen among other brands, with 8.6% of the market was third.

BMW Group’s market share in September rose from 7.2% last year to 7.6%, and the company sold 114,056 units last month, a 13% jump year over year. For the first nine months of 2016, BMW’s market share rose from 6.4% a year ago to 6.7% on sales of 778,775 units, a jump of 12.2% for the period.

Daimler also posted a market share gain, rising from 6.2% in September 2015 to 6.8% last month. For the first nine months of the year, the Mercedes-Benz maker posted a year-over-year share gain of 0.4 points, to 6.2% on sales of 715,400 units, a jump of 14.2%.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) posted market share of 4.5% in September, unchanged compared with last year. For the first nine months of the year the carmaker’s market share also remained unchanged at 4.3%.

The company with the largest percentage sales increase for the first nine months of 2016 is Jaguar Land Rover, with sales up 29.7% to 171,547. Honda Motor Co. Ltd (NYSE: HMC) has lifted sales by 27.5% in the same period, and Mazda sales are up 17.3% year to date.

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