The United Kingdom posted a year-over-year drop of 19.8%, Germany saw sales fall 8%, French sales declined by 6% and Italy posted a decrease of 4.6%. Only Spain, with an increase of 1.1%, showed a gain in April.
For the first four months of 2017, new passenger car registrations are up 8.3%. However, the April decline broke the EU’s streak of 31 consecutive months of year-over-year sales increases.
The top-selling maker in the EU is Volkswagen, which sold 293,608 vehicles in April, down 8.8% year over year for the month. VW’s market share for the month totaled 24.7%, down from 25.3% in April 2016 and up from 21.3% in February.
PSA Group, makers of Peugeot and Citroen, among other brands, posted a sales decline of 6.4% to 124,994 units. The company’s market share remained at 10.5%, a full point higher than its March share.
Renault Group sales dropped 2.6% to 128,013 units while its year-over-year share rose from 10.3% in April 2016 to 10.7%.
Of the Detroit Three, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) increased its market share in the EU from 6.9% to 7.4% year over year, led by an 18.6% increase in sales of the company’s Alfa Romeo brand. Jeep brand sales dipped 8.1% year over year. FCA sold 87,761 units in April, down 0.8% compared with April 2016.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) sold 76,899 units in April, down 11.4% year over year for the month. The company’s April market share came to 6.5%, down from 6.8% in April 2016.
Opel Group, still the General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) subsidiary in Europe until its sale to Peugeot is completed, posted an April market share decrease, slipping from 6.4% a year ago to 5.9% this year. Sales of the Opel/Vauxhall brands fell 13.1% year over year.
BMW Group’s market share in April ticked higher year over year from 6.3% to 6.4%. The company sold 75,965 units last month. Daimler also posted a market share gain, rising from 6.2% in April 2016 to 6.5% last month, with sales totaling 77,277 units.
Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) posted market share of 4.3% in April, up from 3.9% a year ago. Sales volume rose 5.3% to 51,805 units. The largest percentage increase came in the company’s Toyota division, up 5.9% year over year.
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