Automotive News Europe - February 2013 - 18

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

DATA

Land Rover, Hyundai, Audi
were Europe 2012 winners
LUCA CIFERRI

lciferri@crain.com

European sales declined for the fifth
consecutive year in 2012, falling 8 percent to 12.6 million. But not everyone
suffered. Hyundai, Audi, Land Rover and
Jeep bucked the downward trend because of fresh models in hot segments.
With sales up by 35 percent to 100,698
units, Land Rover broke its European
record for volume and was the fastest
growing brand in the region.
The main reason for the surge was high
demand for the Range Rover Evoque.
Sales of the premium SUV maker’s entry model tripled to more than 50,000.
Land Rover expects 2013 to be another
good year because the Evoque remains
a hot seller and the brand will launch
the fourth-generation Range Rover.
Another SUV maker, Jeep, was Europe’s
second fastest growing band last year,
up 19 percent to more than 28,263
units. Jeep, which was Europe’s fastest
growing brand in 2011, was the only
bright spot for parent Fiat. The Italian
automaker’s other brands all suffered
double-digit losses in Europe in 2012.

Koreans rise
Hyundai and Kia were the 2012 winners
among volume brands in Europe. Kia
grew 15 percent to 337,466 units while
Hyundai rose 9 percent to 432,240, according to data from industry association ACEA (see Page 19).
If counted together, the Korean automakers’ 769,706 sales would have
made Hyundai-Kia Europe’s eighthlargest player behind Volkswagen
Group, PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, Renault,
General Motors Europe, Ford, BMW
Group and Fiat Group.
Skoda was the only other volume brand
to increase sales after Hyundai and Kia.
The VW Group Czech-based subsidiary increased its volume 2 percent to
491,951 units.

www.autonewseurope.com

European sales of the Range Rover
Evoque tripled making Land Rover
the region’s fastest growing brand
last year.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

VW Golf
Ford Fiesta
VW Polo
Opel Corsa
Renault Clio
Ford Focus
Opel Astra
Nissan Qashqai
Renault Megane
VW Passat

441,641
326,503
303,696
281,875
259,624
259,353
249,943
218,755
207,699
207,273

-10.6
-12.6
-18.2
-14.0
-14.6
-16.0
-18.2
0.8
-17.4
-15.5

Source: JATO Dynamics

At the other end of the table, all French
automakers suffered double-digit
sales drops. Citroen and Peugeot each
declined by 13 percent while Renault
fell 22 percent. Opel/Vauxhall lost 16
percent and Ford fell by 13 percent in
Europe. Japanese automakers also were
hit by the slump. Toyota’s sales declined
2 percent, Nissan fell by 6 percent,
Honda slipped 6 percent and Mitsubishi
had a 33 percent decline.

Audi No. 1 premium
Audi was Europe’s top-selling premium
brand in 2012. The VW Group subsidiary
increased sales 4 percent to 704,219
units. BMW was No. 2 in Europe with
flat sales at 641,083 vehicles while
Mercedes-Benz ranked third as sales
declined 1 percent to 586,631. Audi’s
success helped it pass volume carmakers Citroen and Fiat to finish last year at
Europe’s sixth-biggest brand overall.
In worldwide sales, Audi trailed BMW
1.54 million to 1.45 million. Mercedes
was third at 1.32 million.

Looking back to 1995
While 12.6 million cars were sold in all
of Europe last year, the volume for western Europe was 11.8 million vehicles.
The last time carmakers roughly sold
the same number of cars in western
Europe was 1995. A lot has changed
since then.

w VW Group was already No. 1 but
its market share was 16.8 percent.
VW Group finished 2012 with a 24.5
percent share.
w In 1995, U.S. automakers ranked
No. 2 and No. 3 in Europe. Ford,
which included Aston Martin and
Jaguar 17 years ago, was No. 2 in
European sales with a 13.7 percent
share, ahead of General Motors’ 13.1
percent share based on sales of the
Opel, Vauxhall and Saab brands.
w Last year, PSA was No. 2 with an
11.9 percent market share. Renault,
including Dacia, was No. 3 with an
8.2 percent share. GM, which since
1995 ditched Saab but added Chevrolet, ranked fourth last year with an
8 percent share. Ford, reduced to the
Ford brand only in Europe, was fifth
with a 7.5 percent share.
w Fiat was Europe’s fifth-biggest auto
group in 1995, with an 11.1 percent
share. Last year, despite the addition
of Chrysler Group’s brands, Fiat ranked
seventh with a 6.5 percent share. Fiat
now trails BMW Group (BMW, Mini and
Rolls-Royce) in Europe.
w BMW Group’s 2012 share (6.6 percent) was higher than its share in 1995
(6.4 percent) even though its portfolio
included the BMW, Rover and Land
Rover brands 17 years ago.

FEBRUARY 2013

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Automotive News Europe - February 2013

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