2019 (Full Year) Europe: Best-Selling Car Manufacturers and Brands

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In 2019, the Volkswagen Group was the largest car manufacturer in Europe and Volkswagen the top-selling brand followed by Renault and Ford.

Bugatti and Porsche at Geneva Auto Salon - The Volkswagen Group was the largest carmaker and VW the top-selling car brand in Europe in 2019.

In full calendar year 2019, the Volkswagen Group remained the best-selling carmaker in Europe and increased market share to near a quarter. The PSA Group was the second largest car manufacturer in Europe despite weaker sales in 2019. The FCA Group was the worst-performing larger carmaker with sales falling below a million cars in 2019. Volkswagen, Renault, Ford and Peugeot were again the top-selling car brands in Europe although all underperformed the broader market in 2019. New passenger vehicle registrations in Europe increased by 1.2% to 15,805,752 cars in 2019.

See 2019 (Full Year) Europe: Car Sales per EU and EFTA Country for an overview and analysis of the European new car market.

Best-Selling Car Manufacturers in Europe in 2019 (Full Year)

The largest carmakers and marques in the European Union and EFTA in 2019 according to new passenger vehicle registration data released by the ACEA were:

20192018% 18/19
Total Market EU & EFTA15,805,75215,624,948+1.2
VW Group3,866,7793,744,367+3.3
VOLKSWAGEN1,769,4821,764,329+0.3
SKODA761,761728,443+4.6
AUDI743,042723,922+2.6
SEAT507,149452,071+12.2
PORSCHE79,62470,557+12.9
OTHERS5,7215,045+13.4
PSA Group2,467,2582,499,973-1.3
PEUGEOT964,937971,456-0.7
OPEL/VAUXHALL815,683884,799-7.8
CITROEN636,843598,279+6.4
DS49,79545,439+9.6
RENAULT Group1,654,8871,640,296+0.9
RENAULT1,063,9571,105,119-3.7
DACIA581,543528,073+10.1
LADA4,9565,158-3.9
ALPINE4,4311,946+127.7
HYUNDAI Group1,065,8591,036,709+2.8
HYUNDAI563,018542,405+3.8
KIA502,841494,304+1.7
BMW Group1,048,0471,033,433+1.4
BMW830,862815,388+1.9
MINI217,185218,045-0.4
DAIMLER1,016,655970,187+4.8
MERCEDES902,039871,221+3.5
SMART114,61698,966+15.8
FORD965,070979,599-1.5
FCA Group946,5711,021,205-7.3
FIAT659,622711,145-7.2
JEEP167,118168,652-0.9
LANCIA/CHRYSLER58,93848,859+20.6
ALFA ROMEO53,87682,943-35.0
OTHERS7,0179,606-27.0
TOYOTA Group797,397760,828+4.8
TOYOTA 741,342714,035+3.8
LEXUS56,05546,793+19.8
NISSAN394,091493,876-20.2
VOLVO CAR CORP.342,579320,784+6.8
MAZDA256,562234,510+9.4
JAGUAR LAND ROVER Group228,626237,194-3.6
LAND ROVER151,800153,375-1.0
JAGUAR76,82683,819-8.3
MITSUBISHI148,248144,103+2.9
HONDA122,080135,665-10.0
Source: ACEA

Largest Carmakers in Europe in 2019 (Full Year)

In 2019, the Volkswagen Group remained by far the largest car manufacturer in Europe. The VW Group gained a half percentage market share and again controlled nearly a full quarter of the European new car market in 2019. VW brand sales were flat but all other large brands in the group increased sales with Seat and Porsche growing by double digits.

The PSA Group, in contrast, has weaker sales and lost market share. Peugeot sales were only moderately lower but Opel continued to struggle. Opel sales may be helped with the introduction of a new Corsa on a PSA platform in early 2020. Opel’s range was trimmed to increase profitability rather than volume numbers. Citroen and DS performed well.

The Renault Group also underperformed with Renault sales down. Dacia sales were up by a tenth and Alpine sales increased by 127% but the numbers involved are small.

The Hyundai and BMW groups both gained market share with the Hyundai brand performing strongly. Mini sales were weaker.

The Daimler Group increased sales in Europe in 2019 to above a million units. Smart had a very strong performance in Europe in the run-up to the brand switching to electric-cars only.

Ford sales were weaker but the brand remained the third-largest marque in Europe in 2019.

The FCA Group had a dismal 2019 with sales down 7.3%. The announced merger with PSA may lead to even weaker sales in the next couple of years, as consolidation aims at increasing profits rather than volume. Fiat sales were down by 60,000 cars and Alfa Romeo sales were down by more than a third or nearly 30,000 cars. Lancia sales were up by a fifth but that amounts to only 10,000 cars.

The Toyota Group had strong sales in Europe in 2019 with Lexus sales increasing by a fifth. Nissan sales, in contrast, were down by a fifth – by far the performance of a major carmaker in Europe in 2019.

Best-Selling Car Brands in Europe in 2019 (Full Year)

The 30 top-selling car brands in Europe in 2019 were as follows:

Brand20192018% 18/19
1VOLKSWAGEN1,769,4821,764,329+0.3
2RENAULT1,063,9571,105,119-3.7
3FORD965,070979,599-1.5
4PEUGEOT964,937971,456-0.7
5MERCEDES902,039871,221+3.5
6BMW830,862815,388+1.9
7OPEL/VAUXHALL815,683884,799-7.8
8SKODA761,761728,443+4.6
9AUDI743,042723,922+2.6
10TOYOTA 741,342714,035+3.8
11FIAT659,622711,145-7.2
12CITROEN636,843598,279+6.4
13DACIA581,543528,073+10.1
14HYUNDAI563,018542,405+3.8
15SEAT507,149452,071+12.2
16KIA502,841494,304+1.7
17NISSAN394,091493,876-20.2
18VOLVO342,579320,784+6.8
19MAZDA256,562234,510+9.4
20MINI217,185218,045-0.4
21JEEP167,118168,652-0.9
22LAND ROVER151,800153,375-1.0
23MITSUBISHI148,248144,103+2.9
24HONDA122,080135,665-10.0
25SMART114,61698,966+15.8
26PORSCHE79,62470,557+12.9
27JAGUAR76,82683,819-8.3
28LANCIA/CHRYSLER58,93848,859+20.6
29LEXUS56,05546,793+19.8
30ALFA ROMEO53,87682,943-35.0
Source: ACEA

Europe’s Favorite Car Brands in 2019 (Full Year)

Volkswagen easily remained the largest car brand in 2019 despite sales increasing below the market average. The VW Golf remained Europe’s favorite car model in 2019. Sales in 2020 may be influenced by the arrival of the new Golf 8 and the electric-only ID.3 – the introduction of both models are delayed by software issues.

Renault, Ford, and Peugeot all maintained their relative rank positions despite weaker sales in Europe in 2019.

Mercedes-Benz and BMW both moved ahead of Opel that had the weakest performance of any top-ten brand in Europe in 2019. Mercedes was the most-improved of the so-called German premium brands.

Skoda, Audi, and Toyota all maintained their relative rank positions with stronger sales.

Lancia, Lexus, and Smart were the most-improved brands in Europ in 2019 while Alfa Romeo, Nissan, and Honda performed the worst.

European Car Sales Statistics for 2019 (Full Year)

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.