Cars and Drivers

Ford November European Sales Volume Rises, Market Share Dips

Paul Ausick

Published: December 14, 2017 10:50 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 5:27 am

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) reported Thursday that new vehicle registrations in the European Union (EU) rose 5.9% in November, compared with new registrations in November of 2016. New registrations for the month totaled 1.22 million units. New registrations also rose by 5.9% in October.

Lithuania reported the largest year-over-year gain, up 57.4% to a total of 2,425. The biggest decline came in Cyprus, down 12.5% with just 990 new registrations. On a volume basis, registrations in Germany totaled 302,636 units (up 9.4% year over year) and registrations in the United Kingdom totaled 163,541 units (down 11.2%).

For the first 11 months of 2017, new passenger car registrations are up 4.1% to a total of 14.05 million. Year over year, registrations rose the most in Lithuania (26.4%), Bulgaria (23.5%) and Croatia (21.9%). Sales in the United Kingdom are down 5% for the same period.

The top-selling maker in the EU is Volkswagen, which sold 299,009 vehicles in November, up 5.5% year over year for the month. VW’s market share for the month totaled 4.6%, down from 24.7% in November 2016. Registrations are up 2.9% for the first 11 months of the year.

PSA Group, makers of Peugeot, Citroen and other brands, posted an increase of 83.3% to 196,650 units. The company’s market share rose from 9.3% to 16.2%. The increase includes sales in the Opel/Vauxhall group the company acquired from General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) earlier this year.

Renault Group posted a volume increase of 10.1% to 137,009 units, while its share rose from 10.8% in November 2016 to 11.3%.

Of the Detroit Three, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) sold 78,463 units in November, up 4.2% year over year for the month. The company’s November market share came to 6.4%, down 0.2 percentage points compared with last year.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) saw its market share in the EU dip from 6.4% in November 2016 to 6% this year. Sales were led by a 27.6% increase in sales of the company’s Jeep brand and a 20.7% increase in Alfa Romeo sales. FCA sold 72,928 units in November, down 1.3% compared with November 2016.

GM has effectively left the EU market and had sales of just 50 units in November.

BMW Group’s market share in November fell from 7% a year ago to 6.9%. The company sold 83,590 units last month. Daimler also posted a market share drop, slipping from 6.6% in November 2016 to 6.4% last month, with sales totaling 77,537 units.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) posted market share of 4.5% in November, up from 4.2% a year ago. Sales volume rose 12.3% to 54,768 units. The percentage increase was spread nearly equally between the company’s Toyota division, up 12.1% year over year, while Lexus division sales rose 14.1%.