Cars and Drivers

February European Auto Sales Drop for Sixth Consecutive Month

Paul Ausick

Published: March 15, 2019 7:40 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 11:24 pm

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) on Friday reported new vehicle registration totals in the European Union for the month of January. Sales declined by 1% year over year in the month. Registrations (sales) fell for the sixth consecutive month.

Sales dropped 2.9% month over month. Sales results were mixed in the EU’s five major markets: Spain, down 8.4%; Italy, down 4.9%; the United Kingdom, down 0.6%; Germany, up 0.6%; and France, up 0.5%.

Of the Detroit Three, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) saw its February market share in the EU dip from 7.4% in 2018 to 7.1%. Unit sales totaled 78,850, down by 5.3% year over year. Sales of the Fiat brand fell by 11.5%, while Jeep sales jumped by 35%.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) sold 69,642 units in February, also a year-over-year decline of 5.3% for the month. The company’s February market share rang in at 6.2%, down from 6.6% a year ago.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) left the European auto market in 2017.

The top-selling maker in the EU is Volkswagen, which sold 271,477 vehicles in February, down 0.7% year over year for the month. VW’s market share for the month totaled 24.4%, up from 24.3% in February 2018.

PSA Group, makers of Peugeot and Citroen among other brands, posted a February sales increase of 1% to 195,658 units. The company’s market share increased from 17.2% to 17.6% for the month.

Renault Group posted a volume increase of 0.3% to 120,084 units in February and its year-over-year share increased from 10.6% to 10.8%.

BMW Group’s market share dropped year over year from 5.7% to 5.6% in February. The company sold 62,518 units last month, down by 3.3% compared with year-ago February sales of 64,654.

Daimler posted a market share increase last month, rising from 5.6% in February 2018 to 5.9%, with sales totaling 65,780 units. On a volume basis, sales rose by 5% year over year.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) posted market share of 4.6% in January, down by 0.1 percentage points compared with a year ago. Sales volume dropped by 2.2% to 51,734 units.

For the month of February, Germany was the volume leader with more than 268,000 units sold, up 2.7% year over year for the month. Volume in Italy fell by 2.4% to 177,825 while sales in France rose 2.1% to 172,438. In the United Kingdom, monthly sales increased by 1.4% to 81,969 units.

For all of 2018, EU sales totaled 15.16 million, up just 0.1% from sales of 15.14 million in 2017.