Henk Bekker 
April 2015: New passenger vehicle registrations increased in Europe, China, the USA and India but car sales were sharply weaker in Russia, Brazil and Japan. For a change, India with a car market expansion of 16% was the strongest major growth region in the world followed by Europe with a 7% increase in car sales. … Read more
Mercedes-Benz remained the favorite classic car brand in Germany in 2015 with the VW Beetle (Käfer) the most common model with historic H number plates. More than 300,000 classic cars in Germany are registered as historic – i.e. cars older than 30 years and in good, largely original condition. Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen are the leading … Read more
March 2015: new vehicle registrations increased in China and Europe but car sales were flat in the US, India and Brazil and weaker in Japan and Russia. Car sales grew fastest in China – the world’s largest single-country market – while the European market was larger than the US for the first time in months. … Read more
 The European car market (EU and EFTA) expanded by 8.5% during the first three months of 2015 – including the strongest March in five years – to 3,637,635 new passenger vehicle registrations. All major brands increased sales compared to a year ago with only very minor changes in the rank order of best-selling manufacturing groups … Read more
New passenger vehicle registrations in the European Union increased by 8.6% in the first quarter of 2015 with growth in all the largest countries. In March 2015, the European new car market expanded for the 19th consecutive month. During the first three months of 2015, Germany, the UK and France all experienced growth while Italy … Read more
German premium car brands Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche enjoyed new record sales worldwide and in China in March and the first quarter of 2015. Volkswagen sales worldwide and in China were slightly lower at the start of 2015 compared to the first three months of 2014. New passenger vehicle registrations for German luxury marques … Read more
Volkswagen remained the best-selling car brand in Switzerland in the first quarter of 2015 but the Skoda Octavia replaced the VW Golf as top-selling model. After a slow start to the year, new passenger car registrations in Switzerland in March 2015 increased by 20% for a 5.7% expansion of the Swiss car market during the … Read more
Toyota and Honda remained the top selling vehicle manufacturers and brands in Japan in the first quarter of 2015. The Aqua was Japan’s favorite car model. New vehicle registrations in Japan contracted by 14.4% during the first three months of 2015 with all major brands experiencing large declines in sales. Heavy truck manufacturers generally performed … Read more
The best-selling car brands in the UK in the first quarter of 2015 were Ford, Vauxhall and Volkswagen. The Ford Fiesta was Britain’s favorite car model while the Corsa overtook the Focus for second place. New passenger vehicle registrations in the United Kingdom increased by 6.75% during the first three months of 2015 compared to … Read more
In the first quarter of 2015, Volkswagen remained Germany’s largest carmaker and best-selling brand. The VW Golf was the top-selling car model. New passenger vehicle registrations in Germany increased by 6.4% to 757,630 cars during the first three months of 2015. VW accounted for half of the extra cars sold in Germany and increased market … Read more