For the first eight months of 2015, new car registrations in Germany were up 5.6% to 2.14 million and sales in the United Kingdom were up 6.7% to 1.06 million. For the year to date, new registrations in the EU are up 8.6%, with the highest growth in Spain (up 22.3%) and Italy (up 15%).
Including all of Western Europe, the top-selling maker is Volkswagen Group, with total sales year to date of 2.27 million units, up 7% year over year. In August, VW’s sales totaled 197,591, up 5.1% from sales of 187,980 in August 2014. Sales of the company’s Porsche cars rose 30.5% in August and are up 30.6% year to date. VW’s market share for the year to date is 25.1%, down slightly from 25.5% at this point last year.
PSA Group, maker of Peugeot and Citroen, posted market share of 9.7% in August and 10.6% for the first eight months of the year. In third place was Renault Group, with an August share of 9.2% and a year-to-date share of 9.7%.
The top U.S. maker by market share in August was fourth-ranked Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), which claimed 6.8% of the European market, down from 7% a year ago. For the year to date, unit sales are up 7.3% to 660,084, but the company’s market share slipped from 7.4% in 2014.
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General Motors Co.’s (NYSE: GM) Opel Group nabbed fifth place, with August market share of 6.9%, up from 6.7% in August 2014. For the year to date, Opel’s unit registrations are up 0.6% and share has dropped from 7.4% to 6.8%.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) ranked sixth in August with a market share of 5.2%. Registrations of Fiat brand vehicles rose 14.7% in the month and are up 13.6% year to date. The big gain came in Jeep registrations, up 176.2% year to date, far higher than any other brand by any maker.
BMW Group posted a year-over-year gain of 21.4% in new registrations in August and year-to-date registrations are up 12.1%. The company’s Mini brand posted year-to-date unit sales growth of 30.7%. August market share rose from 6.6% a year ago to 7.2% and year to date the share is up from 6.1% to 6.3%.
Daimler saw Mercedes-Benz registrations rise 18% in August and 11.8% in the first eight months of 2015. The company’s market share for May came in at 6.3%, up from 5.6% a year ago, and share for the first eight months of the year rose from 5.3% to 5.7%.
The top-ranked Japanese automakers were Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) and Nissan with August market share of 4.2% and 3.3%, respectively. Toyota’s August share was flat with a year ago, while Nissan’s rose from 3.1%. For the year to date, Toyota’s unit sales rose 7.4% to 375,039 and Nissan’s unit sales rose 20.7% to 361,770.
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