New car sales in Europe shows growth again, but only just, with only 4 of the top ten best sellers growing.

• European new-car sales grew by 0.8% in May, but this is the slowest growth since late 2013
• Overall sales across Europe have increased by 7.0% year-to-date
• Volkswagen Golf, Ford Fiesta and Renault Clio remain the best-selling cars for the month

JATO Dynamics, the world’s leading provider of automotive intelligence, reports that new-car sales in Europe were 0.8% higher in May than in the same month of 2014, while year-to-date sales were 7.0% higher than a year earlier.

JATO’s headline market analysis:

• Overall growth was maintained, despite fewer trading days in major markets
• Spain recorded a 14.6% increase compared to May 2014 as subsidies were renewed
• The top three brands and top three models recorded reduced sales compared to May 2014

After many months of strong growth in the European new-car market, May 2015 saw only a 0.8% increase in total volumes compared to the same month last year, the slowest growth since November 2013. 

This May had fewer trading days than in 2014 in some countries, which is likely to have impacted the relatively lower volumes in those markets. 

Despite this, overall sales continued to grow due to the continued recovery in some of the countries hardest-hit economic downturn of recent years (e.g. Ireland, Italy) and the renewal of government incentives in Spain.

Brian Walters, Vice President of Data at JATO Dynamics, commented “The number of trading days can affect monthly volumes, disguising underlying trends. The fact that growth continued despite this, along with the strong year-to-date growth gives us reason to be confident about the health of the car market in Europe.”

European Monthly Sales Volumes Year-on-Year Comparison

 

Volkswagen maintained its lead of the market, as its sales dropped by only 1.1% in May and increased by 7.3% year-to-date. Ford, Opel/Vauxhall, Renault and Peugeot completed the Top Five for the month, while Opel/Vauxhall moved ahead of Renault this month for the year-to-date measure.

Despite the lost trading days four of the Top Ten brands recorded increased sales, mostly down to recent model introductions, such as Fiat’s 500X, Renault’s Kadjar and Mercedes’ latest C-Class.

Top Ten Brands

Make	May_15	May_14	% change May	May Ytd_15	May YtD_14	% change Ytd
VOLKSWAGEN	142,565	144,201	-1.1%	732,195	682,429	+7.3%
FORD	82,467	84,172	-2.0%	442,806	423,406	+4.6%
OPEL/VAUXHALL	78,086	80,536	-3.0%	395,889	379,854	+4.2%
RENAULT	74,568	71,480	+4.3%	404,403	362,479	+11.6%
PEUGEOT	66,766	69,098	-3.4%	363,195	346,575	+4.8%
AUDI	62,598	66,794	-6.3%	324,790	318,963	+1.8%
MERCEDES	61,375	58,219	+5.4%	301,311	273,640	+10.1%
FIAT	57,578	54,846	+5.0%	287,280	266,802	+7.7%
BMW	57,135	55,718	+2.5%	300,110	280,884	+6.8%
SKODA	51,827	52,192	-0.7%	259,124	246,570	+5.1%

Outside the Top Ten brands, new models and variants were linked with the growth, as Jeep, smart, Ssangyong and MINI all recorded larger sales increases compared to May 2014.

A 3.0% reduction in monthly sales made little impact on the Volkswagen Golf’s domination of the sales chart, as its two nearest competitors, the Ford Fiesta and Renault Clio also suffered.

Further down the chart, Volkswagen’s revised Polo and new-generation Passat recorded significantly increased sales compared to May 2014.

Outside the Top Ten, small crossovers continued to increase their market share, as Renault Captur, Opel/Vauxhall Mokka, Nissan Juke, Citroën C4 Cactus and Fiat 500X grew the segment. The compact MPV segment is also experiencing resurgence, driven by the new Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan and BMW 2-Series Active Tourer.

Top Ten Models

Make & Model	May_15	May_14	% change May	May Ytd_15	May Ytd_14	% change Ytd
VOLKSWAGEN GOLF	44,786	46,939	-4.6%	225,648	225,741	-0.0%
FORD FIESTA	25,414	26,355	-3.6%	140,185	140,373	-0.1%
RENAULT CLIO	24,056	27,268	-11.8%	134,486	127,947	+5.1%
VOLKSWAGEN POLO	23,545	21,051	+11.8%	127,625	117,808	+8.3%
OPEL/VAUXHALL CORSA	21,802	21,514	+1.3%	123,646	106,803	+15.8%
FORD FOCUS	20,227	18,508	+9.3%	102,570	99,782	+2.8%
SKODA OCTAVIA	17,711	18,107	-2.2%	91,352	87,725	+4.1%
VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT	17,579	14,634	+20.1%	89,405	65,124	+37.3%
OPEL/VAUXHALL ASTRA	17,494	17,667	-1.0%	80,408	78,885	+1.9%
NISSAN QASHQAI	17,427	17,857	-2.4%	101,499	91,174	+11.3%

Brian Walters continued “regardless of May’s monthly total, with sustained underlying demand, new and diverse models driving increased sales and the resurgence of the compact MPV segment, the European new-car market is as dynamic as ever.”