2019 (Q1-Q3) Europe: Best-Selling Car Manufacturers and Brands

January to September 2019: The Volkswagen and Peugeot Groups were Europe’s largest carmakers, Volkswagen and Renault the top-selling brands, and the VW Golf the favorite car model.

Rolls Royce Coupe

Q1-Q3/2019: The VW, PSA and Renault groups remained Europe’s largest carmakers with Volkswagen, Renault, and Ford the top-selling car brands. The largest carmakers and brands had weaker sales in Europe thus far in 2019 and lost market share. New passenger vehicle registrations in the European Union and EFTA decreased by 1.6% to just over 12 million cars during the first three quarters of 2019.

Best-Selling Car Manufacturers and Brands in Europe in 2019 (Q1-3)

The top-selling car manufacturing groups and marques in the European Union and EFTA during the period January to September 2019 were as follows according to car sales statistics released by the ACEA:

Manufacturer / BrandQ1-3/2019Q1-3/2019% Change% Share
VW Group2,958,4152,996,390-1.324.4
-VOLKSWAGEN1,339,5761,394,405-3.911.1
-AUDI580,696610,304-4.94.8
-SKODA580,515562,403+3.24.8
-SEAT397,498363,015+9.53.3
-PORSCHE55,46062,221-10.90.5
-OTHERS4,6704,042+15.50.0
PSA Group1,956,6661,960,591-0.216.1
-PEUGEOT738,648753,172-1.96.1
-OPEL/VAUXHALL682,271700,385-2.65.6
-CITROEN500,008470,760+6.24.1
-DS35,73936,274-1.50.3
RENAULT Group1,265,0171,296,322-2.410.4
-RENAULT807,640885,540-8.86.7
-DACIA449,949405,268+11.03.7
-LADA3,8144,142-7.90.0
-ALPINE3,6141,372+163.40.0
HYUNDAI Group818,012811,377+0.86.8
-HYUNDAI428,861425,559+0.83.5
-KIA389,151385,818+0.93.2
BMW Group776,337777,875-0.26.4
-BMW612,769617,069-0.75.1
-MINI163,568160,806+1.71.4
DAIMLER752,557725,715+3.76.2
-MERCEDES673,544650,886+3.55.6
-SMART79,01374,829+5.60.7
Manufacturer / BrandQ1-3/2019Q1-3/2019% Change% Share
FCA Group740,990825,066-10.26.1
-FIAT515,952579,745-11.04.3
-JEEP132,365131,282+0.81.1
-LANCIA/CHRYSLER45,80635,464+29.20.4
-ALFA ROMEO41,37871,040-41.80.3
-OTHERS5,4897,535-27.20.0
FORD739,639768,584-3.86.1
TOYOTA Group612,394597,514+2.55.1
-TOYOTA569,903561,066+1.64.7
-LEXUS42,49136,448+16.60.4
NISSAN305,573411,691-25.82.5
VOLVO CAR CORP.248,950238,014+4.62.1
MAZDA184,295183,726+0.31.5
JAGUAR LAND ROVER Group177,964179,473-0.81.5
-LAND ROVER116,742117,176-0.41.0
-JAGUAR61,22262,297-1.70.5
MITSUBISHI116,264109,043+6.61.0
HONDA95,406109,486-12.90.8
Source: ACEA

Top-Selling Carmakers in Europe in 2019 (Q1-3)

During the first three quarters of 2019, the VW Group remained by far the largest carmaker in Europe and increase market share slightly to 24.4%. The top brands in the group – Volkswagen and Audi – both had weaker sales while Skoda and especially Seat showed solid growth.

The PSA Group was again the second-largest carmaker in Europe with a market share of 16.1%. Sales of Peugeot and Opel / Vauxhall were slightly below market average while Citroen registered solid gains.

The Renault Group was again the third-largest car manufacturer in Europe. Sales of Renault-branded cars were down by 8.8% while Dacia sales increased by 11%. The small Alpine brand was with an increase of 163% in sales by far the best performing new car brand in Europe thus far in 2019.

The Hyundai Group moved ahead of the FCA Group with sales of both Hyundai and Kia slightly higher. The BMW Group gained market share despite weaker sales. The BMW brand was weaker but Mini sales increased.

Daimler was the most-improved major brand with sales up by 3.7%. Mercedes-Benz sales were up 3.5% while Smart sales increased by 5.6%.

Sales of the FCA Group in Europe thus far in 2019 were down by 10.2% with the Group slipping from fourth-largest carmaker in Europe a year ago to only seventh. A strong performance by Lancia and stable sales of Jeeps could not make up for dismal sales of Fiat and Alfa Romeo.

Ford continued to bleed market share in Europe with sales down 3.8% during the first three quarters of 2019.

Toyota Group sales in Europe increased with both Toyota and Lexus cars selling in higher numbers. In stark contrast was the performance by Nissan – sales were down by a quarter or more than 100,000 cars – no other major car brand performed worse in Europe.

Best-Selling Car Brands in Europe in 2019 (Q1-3)

The top 20 best-selling car marques in the European Union and EFTA during the period January to September 2019 were as follows according to car sales statistics released by the ACEA:

Manufacturer / BrandQ1-3/2019Q1-3/2019% Change
1VOLKSWAGEN1,339,5761,394,405-3.9
2RENAULT807,640885,540-8.8
3FORD739,639768,584-3.8
4PEUGEOT738,648753,172-1.9
5OPEL/VAUXHALL682,271700,385-2.6
6MERCEDES673,544650,886+3.5
7BMW612,769617,069-0.7
8AUDI580,696610,304-4.9
9SKODA580,515562,403+3.2
10TOYOTA569,903561,066+1.6
11FIAT515,952579,745-11.0
12CITROEN500,008470,760+6.2
13DACIA449,949405,268+11.0
14HYUNDAI428,861425,559+0.8
15SEAT397,498363,015+9.5
16KIA389,151385,818+0.9
17NISSAN305,573411,691-25.8
18VOLVO CAR CORP.248,950238,014+4.6
19MAZDA184,295183,726+0.3
20MINI163,568160,806+1.7

Top 20 Car Brands in Europe in 2019 (Q1-3)

There were only very minor changes in the rank order of the top 20 best-selling car brands in Europe during the first nine months of the year. The eight largest car brands were in the same rank positions as during the first three quarters of 2018 but only Mercedes managed to increased sales and BMW gained some market share.

Fiat dropped out of the top-ten from a year ago allowing Skoda to moved into ninth place and Toyota to re-enter the top-ten list.

Dacia and Seat were the most-improved brands and both marques moved up two rank positions each. Nissan was by far the worst-performing brand with sales down by a quarter to slip down to 17th from 14th a year ago.

See also: 2019 (Q1-3) Europe: Sales per EU and EFTA Country and 2019 (September): Europe: Car Sales and Market Analysis.

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.