Ford, Chrysler European Sales Rise in May

For the first five months of 2015, new car registrations in Germany were up 3.6% to 1.3 million, and sales in the United Kingdom were up 5.7% to 1.06 million. May marks the 21st consecutive month that registrations have increased. However, the rise is the smallest percentage since the streak began.

Including all of Western Europe, the top-selling maker is Volkswagen with total sales year to date of 1.37 million units, up 4.9% year over year. In May, VW’s sales totaled 269,141, down 3.3% from sales of 278,405 in May 2014. Sales of the company’s Porsche cars rose 33.2%. VW’s market share for the year to date is 24.4%.

PSA Group, maker of Peugeot and Citroen, posted market share of 10.5% in May and 10.9% for the first five months of the year. In third place was Renault, with a May share of 9% and a year-to-date share of 9.3%.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) ranked fourth in May, with a market share of 7.1%. Registrations of Fiat brand vehicles rose 8.7% in the month and 11.4% year to date. The big gain came in Jeep registrations, up 190.1% year to date, far higher than any other brand by any maker.

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The top U.S. maker by market share in May was fifth-ranked Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), which claimed 7% of the European market, down from 7.2% a year ago. For the year to date, unit sales are up 4.1% to 408,186, but the company’s market share slipped from 7.5% in 2014 to 7.3%.

General Motors Co.’s (NYSE: GM) Opel Group nabbed sixth place with May market share of 6.8%, but that was down 5.6% compared with May 2014. For the year to date, Opel Group’s unit registrations are down 3.5% and share has dropped from 7.3% to 6.6%.

BMW posted a year-over-year gain of 7.5% in new registrations in May, and registrations are up 11.3% year to date. The company’s Mini brand posted year-to-date unit sales growth of 35.1%. May market share rose from 6.1% a year ago to 6.6%, and year to date, share is up from 6.2% to 6.5%.

Daimler saw Mercedes-Benz registrations rise 11.1% in May and 13.4% in the first five months of 2015. The company’s market share for May came in at 6.3%, up from 5.8% a year ago, and share for the first five months of the year rose from 5.6% to 5.9%.

The top-ranked Japanese automakers were Nissan and Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) with May market share of 3.8% each. That total represents a gain for Nissan and a drop for Toyota.

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