2012 First Quarter Best-Selling Car Manufacturers & Brands in Europe

The VW Group remained the best-selling car manufacturer in Western Europe and Volkswagen the top-selling auto brand in the first quarter of 2012.

Der neue Volkswagen up!
Volkswagen still the top-selling car brand in Europe Photo: Volkswagen Media Services

The first quarter of 2012 saw the VW Group and Volkswagen brand increase their dominance of the European car market. Other major automobile manufacturing groups including Peugeot, Ford, Renault, GM, and Fiat all saw sharp declines. Japanese car brands had mixed results in Europe at the start of 2012 while Korean cars sold well.

The European car market for Q1/2012 was down by 7.3% to 3,427,677 new passenger vehicle registrations in the European Union and EFTA countries in January, February, and March 2012.

Best-Selling Car Manufacturers in the EU & EFTA for Q1/2012

The best-selling car manufacturers during the first quarter of 2012 in the European Union and EFTA according to car sales statistics released by ACEA were:

% Market Share Car Sales January to March
Q1/2012 Q1/2011 2012 2011 % +/-
ALL BRANDS** 3,427,677 3,696,919 -7.3
VW Group 23.7 21.9 813,522 809,185 +0.5
Volkswagen 12.6 11.6 431,901 427,688 +1.0
Audi 5.2 4.7 179,629 172,436 +4.2
Seat 2.0 2.2 69,880 81,015 -13.7
Skoda 3.8 3.5 131,422 127,595 +3.0
Others (1) 0.0 0.0 690 451 +53.0
PSA Group 11.9 13.3 407,792 491,542 -17.0
Peugeot 6.3 7.2 217,461 266,330 -18.3
Citroën 5.6 6.1 190,331 225,212 -15.5
FORD 8.3 8.2 282,933 301,989 -6.3
RENAULT Group 8.2 9.9 281,969 364,634 -22.7
Renault 6.6 8.1 225,271 299,364 -24.8
Dacia 1.7 1.8 56,698 65,270 -13.1
GM Group 8.1 8.5 277,736 315,376 -11.9
Opel / Vauxhall 6.6 7.3 227,590 270,240 -15.8
Chevrolet 1.5 1.2 50,006 44,945 +11.3
GM (US) 0.0 0.0 140 191 -26.7
FIAT Group 6.3 7.4 217,434 271,741 -20.0
Fiat 4.5 5.3 154,071 197,036 -21.8
Lancia / Chrysler 0.8 0.7 27,216 27,582 -1.3
Alfa / Romeo 0.8 1.1 27,194 40,010 -32.0
Jeep 0.2 0.1 7,469 4,716 +58.4
Others (2) 0.0 0.1 1,484 2,397 -38.1
BMW Group 5.7 5.3 196,098 196,123 -0.0
BMW 4.6 4.3 157,041 157,827 -0.5
MINI 1.1 1.0 39,057 38,296 +2.0
DAIMLER 4.9 4.3 168,003 159,821 +5.1
Mercedes 4.3 3.8 148,940 139,144 +7.0
Smart 0.6 0.6 19,063 20,677 -7.8
TOYOTA Group 4.6 4.5 156,616 167,816 -6.7
Toyota 4.3 4.4 148,085 161,481 -8.3
Lexus 0.2 0.2 8,531 6,335 +34.7
NISSAN 3.8 3.5 130,907 129,920 +0.8
HYUNDAI 3.3 2.8 114,571 101,865 +12.5
KIA 2.3 1.7 79,974 64,208 +24.6
VOLVO CAR CORP. 1.9 1.8 63,757 68,109 -6.4
SUZUKI 1.3 1.4 43,557 52,525 -17.1
MAZDA 1.1 1.2 38,847 44,912 -13.5
JAGUAR LAND ROVER 1.1 0.8 38,285 28,364 +35.0
Land Rover 0.9 0.6 31,384 21,972 +42.8
Jaguar 0.2 0.2 6,901 6,392 +8.0
HONDA 1.1 1.3 36,797 49,401 -25.5
MITSUBISHI 0.7 0.9 23,987 33,805 -29.0
OTHER** 1.6 1.2 54,892 45,583 +20.4
(1) VW Group: VW ‘other’ include Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini
(2) FIAT Group: FIAT ‘other’ include Dodge, Ferrari, Maserati
(**) ACEA estimates
Note: EU figures exclude Malta

Best-Selling Car Manufacturers in Europe for Q1/2012

During the first quarter of 2012, the VW Group continued its dominance of the West European new car market with an increase in market share of almost 2% to nearly a quarter of all new passenger vehicle registrations.

Sales for the other large vehicle manufacturing groups in Europe were lower. French manufacturing groups PSA and Renault, as well as Italy’s Fiat, were all sharply lower. Sales for Ford and GM were also down.

Japanese car manufacturers mostly struggled while Korean manufacturers Kia and Hyundai continue to make inroads into the West European car market.

Top 20 Best-Selling Car Brands in Europe for Q1/2012

The 20 top-selling car brands in Europe during the first three months of 2012 were:

Q1/2012 % Change
1 VOLKSWAGEN 431,901 +1.0
2 FORD 282,933 -6.3
3 OPEL/VAUXHALL 227,590 -15.8
4 RENAULT 225,271 -24.8
5 PEUGEOT 217,461 -18.3
6 CITROEN 190,331 -15.5
7 AUDI 179,629 +4.2
8 BMW 157,041 -0.5
9 FIAT 154,071 -21.8
10 MERCEDES 148,940 +7.0
11 TOYOTA 148,085 -8.3
12 SKODA 131,422 +3.0
13 NISSAN 130,907 +0.8
14 HYUNDAI 114,571 +12.5
15 KIA 79,974 +24.6
16 SEAT 69,880 -13.7
17 VOLVO 63,757 -6.4
18 DACIA 56,698 -13.1
19 SUZUKI 43,557 -17.1
20 HONDA 36,797 -25.5

Of the top 20 best-selling car brands in Western Europe, only Volkswagen, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz managed to increase the number of cars sold during the first quarter of 2012.

Volkswagen, the top brand in the VW Group, continues to do well in Europe. In a declining market, Volkswagen increased unit sales during the first quarter of 2012, and took another 1% of the overall market. Weak sales of Peugeot and Citroen saw the Volkswagen brand alone outselling the combined PSA Group product line.

Renault performed even worse with Fiat and Honda sales also very weak. Opel (Vauxhall in the UK) continues to struggle with the shine also fading from Dacia – Renault’s discount brand that caused a stir with the launch of cheap cars a few years ago.

German luxury car manufacturers and premium brands Mercedes-Benz and Audi saw solid growth with BMW sales flat in anticipation of the newly launched BMW 3 Series. Peugeot also hopes to revive its fortunes with the launch of the new Peugeot 208 in April.

The Volkswagen Golf remained the best-selling car model in Europe with its replacement expected by the end of 2012.

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.