2021 (Half Year) Europe: Best-Selling Car Manufacturers and Brands

First Semester 2021: the Volkswagen and Stellantis groups were the largest car manufacturers in Europe with VW and Peugeot the top-selling car brands.

First Semester 2021: the Volkswagen and Stellantis groups were the largest car manufacturers in Europe with VW  and Peugeot the top-selling car brands. Smart most improved brand.
Β© Daimler AG

During the first half of 2021, the Volkswagen Group easily remained the largest carmaker in Europe while the newly formed Stellantis Group was the second largest car manufacturer in the European Union. The Renault Group lost market share while the Hyundai, BMW, and Toyota Groups all increased sales by more than a third. Volkswagen was again Europe’s best-selling car brand but Peugeot outsold Renault to claim second place. Smart was the most-improved brand. New passenger vehicle registrations during the first half of 2021 in Europe (including the EU, EFTA, and the UK) increased by 27% to almost 6.5 million cars.

Latest European Car Market Statistics 2021: January, February, March, Q1, April, May, June, HY, July, August, September, Q3, October, November, December, Full Year β€” 2020: Q1, HY, Q3, Full Year

Best-Selling Car Manufacturers in Europe in 2021 (First Half)

New passenger vehicle registration data released by the ACEA showed the following as the best-selling carmakers in Europe (including the EU, EFTA, and the UK) during the first half of 2021:

HY2021HY2020% Change% Share1
Total Car Sales6,486,3515,101,738+27.1100.0
Volkswagen Group1,698,7871,319,452+28.726.2
– Volkswagen733,846579,612+26.611.3
– Skoda346,435279,355+24.05.3
– Audi344,586261,598+31.75.3
– Seat 2233,955166,186+40.83.6
– Porsche37,24630,323+22.80.6
– Others 32,7192,378+14.30.0
STELLANTIS1,378,7731,044,087+32.121.3
– Peugeot423,374316,207+33.96.5
– Fiat 4280,692209,011+34.34.3
– Opel/Vauxhall275,329213,849+28.74.2
– Citroen261,988204,381+28.24.0
– Jeep72,22345,594+58.41.1
– Lancia/Chrysler27,12018,792+44.30.4
– DS21,94020,336+7.90.3
– Alfa Romeo13,69314,138-3.10.2
– Others 52,4141,779+35.70.0
Renault Group561,710525,098+7.08.7
– Renault368,798357,217+3.25.7
– Dacia191,268166,188+15.12.9
– Alpine903546+65.40.0
– Lada7411,147-35.40.0
Hyundai Group494,158352,818+40.17.6
– Kia251,236178,393+40.83.9
– Hyundai242,922174,425+39.33.7
BMW Group469,567356,715+31.67.2
– BMW375,809286,103+31.45.8
– Mini93,75870,612+32.81.4
Toyota Group411,005299,171+37.46.3
– Toyota386,236278,586+38.66.0
– Lexus24,76920,585+20.30.4
Daimler366,642302,878+21.15.7
– Mercedes348,527296,540+17.55.4
– Smart18,1156,338+185.80.3
Ford308,369270,835+13.94.8
Volvo166,594127,721+30.42.6
Nissan136,712127,046+7.62.1
Jaguar Land Rover Group94,32969,028+36.71.5
– Land Rover70,29649,046+43.31.1
– Jaguar24,03319,982+20.30.4
Mazda80,50159,006+36.41.2
Mitsubishi37,45554,302-31.00.6
Honda33,30832,585+2.20.5
ACEA

Notes: 1 ACEA estimation based on total by market. 2 Including Cupra. 3 Including Bentley, Lamborghini, and Bugatti. 4 Including Abarth. 5 Including Dodge, Maserati, and RAM.

Top-Selling Car Brands in Europe in 2021 (First Half)

The Volkswagen Group easily remained the largest car manufacturing group in Europe during the first half of 2021 and increased market share to 26.2%. Although VW and Skoda both slightly underperformed, Audi sales were up by 32% and Seat up 41%.

The Stellantis Group, which combined the previous PSA and FCA Groups, outperformed and increased market share by 0.8% to 21.4%. The six largest of the group’s 14 brands, all outperformed with Jeep (+58%) and Lancia (+44%) the most improved. Both Peugeot and Fiat increased sales by more than a third. Alfa Romeo was one of only three brands in the data set with weaker sales in 2021 than at the start of 2020.

Thus far in 2021, the Renault Group struggled and lost 1.6% market share. Renault brand struggled particularly with sales increasing only 3.2%. Alpine sales were up two-thirds as the second most improved brand in Europe during the first half of 2021 while Lada was the worst-performing brand β€” both brands sell in insignificant numbers in Europe although Renault has grand plans for Alpine as the group’s future main performance brand.

The Hyundai Group moved ahead of BMW with sales for both Kia and Hyundai brands up by around 40%. Both BMW and Mini increased sales by nearly a third while Toyota sales were up by 37%.

The Daimler Group underperformed with Mercedes-Benz sales increasing 10% below market average. In contrast, Smart was the best-performing brand with sales up 185%, as electric cars received a variety of incentives from many European governments.

Ford underperformed with market share slipping to below 5% in Europe. Sales for Volvo, once owned by Ford, were up nearly a third.

The worst-performing brands in Europe during the first half of 2021 were Lada, Mitsubishi, and Alfa Romeo β€” also the only three brands with weaker sales.

The most improved brands in Europe in the first semester of 2021 were Smart, Alpine, and Jeep.

Best-Selling Car Brands in Europe in 2021 (First Half)

New passenger vehicle registration data released by the ACEA showed the following as the ten best-selling carmakers and brands in Europe (including the EU, EFTA, and the UK) during the first half of 2021:

BRANDHY2021HY2020% Change% Share
1Volkswagen733,846579,612+26.611.3
2Peugeot423,374316,207+33.96.5
3Toyota386,236278,586+38.66.0
4BMW375,809286,103+31.45.8
5Renault368,798357,217+3.25.7
6Mercedes348,527296,540+17.55.4
7Skoda346,435279,355+24.05.3
8Audi344,586261,598+31.75.3
9Ford308,369270,835+13.94.8
10Fiat 280,692209,011+34.34.3

Top 10 Car Brands in Europe in 2021 (First Half)

During the first six months of 2021, the largest car brand in Europe was again Volkswagen despite underperforming the market and losing 0.1% market share. A lack of computer chips and other components affected all carmakers to some extend and played as much a role in registrations as consumer taste during the second quarter of 2021 (and probably for the rest of the year too).

VW was the only top ten brand in the same rank position during the first half of 2021 compacted to the start of 2020. Peugeot moved into second from third, Toyota to third from seventh, and BMW from fifth to fourth β€” all three brands outsold the broader market and increased sales by around a third.

Renault was the worst-performing top 20 brand in Europe with sales up only 3.2% and slipping from second largest car brand in Europe to only fifth. Renault lost 1.3% market share

Mercedes-Benz underperformed and slipped two positions while Skoda was down one rank position. Audi sales were up by nearly a third to gain one rank position.

Ford continued its downward spiral. It lost one rank position and market share dropped to below 5% of the European new car market.

Fiat and Opel swapped rank positions. The four largest Stellantis brands performed well in Europe thus far in 2021 with Citroen also increasing sales to maintain 12th position.

See also: 2021 (Half Year) Europe: Car Sales by European Union, EFTA and UK Country

Car Sales Statistics for Europe in 2021

β†’Β  Latest European Car Sales Statistics

About the author:

Henk Bekker

Henk Bekker is a freelance writer with over 20 years of experience in online writing. His best-selling cars website has been reporting car sales statistics since 2008 with classic car auction prices focusing on the most expensive automobiles sold at public auctions in the past decade. He also owns the travel websites European-Traveler.com and Lake Geneva Switzerland. Henk holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and an MSc in Finance from the University of London.