2020 (Half Year) Europe: Best-Selling Car Manufacturers and Brands

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First Semester 2020: the Volkswagen and PSA groups remained the largest car manufacturers in Europe with VW and Renault the top-selling car brands.

Mercedes-Benz was the fourth best-selling car brand in Europe during the first half of 2020.

During the first half of 2020, the Volkswagen, PSA, and Renault groups remained the largest carmakers in Europe. Volkswagen, Renault, and Peugeot similarly were again the three best-selling car brands in Europe during the first six months of 2020. Mercedes-Benz and BMW moved into the top five while Ford and Opel both had very weak sales. All car brands in Europe had weaker sales during the first half of 2020 compared to a year ago. New passenger vehicle registrations during the first half of 2020 in Europe (including the EU, EFTA, and the UK) contracted by 39.5% to 5,1010,669 cars.

European Car Market Statistics 2020: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Best-Selling Car Manufacturers in Europe in 2020 (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 2020:

Manufacturer and Brands2020 (HY)2019 (HY)% 20/19 HY
TOTAL (EU + EFTA + UK)5,101,6698,427,639-39.5
VW Group1,314,6722,057,741-36.1
VOLKSWAGEN576,028944,526-39.0
SKODA278,290398,559-30.2
AUDI261,482406,760-35.7
SEAT166,310269,173-38.2
PORSCHE30,18435,590-15.2
OTHERS22,3783,133-24.1
PSA Group754,9691,383,534-45.4
PEUGEOT316,366527,587-40.0
OPEL/VAUXHALL213,893475,042-55.0
CITROEN204,375356,598-42.7
DS20,33524,307-16.3
RENAULT Group524,891905,245-42.0
RENAULT357,015588,515-39.3
DACIA166,183311,800-46.7
LADA1,1462,356-51.4
ALPINE5472,574-78.7
BMW Group356,647537,742-33.7
BMW286,023429,167-33.4
MINI70,624108,575-35.0
HYUNDAI Group353,026552,478-36.1
KIA178,392268,305-33.5
HYUNDAI174,634284,173-38.5
DAIMLER305,820491,799-37.8
MERCEDES299,488441,059-32.1
SMART6,33250,740-87.5
TOYOTA Group299,819415,939-27.9
TOYOTA279,221388,542-28.1
LEXUS20,59827,397-24.8
FCA Group290,562540,871-46.3
FIAT210,017380,877-44.9
JEEP45,89092,092-50.2
LANCIA/CHRYSLER18,81034,796-45.9
ALFA ROMEO14,14729,339-51.8
OTHERS31,6983,767-54.9
FORD273,520510,761-46.4
NISSAN126,992216,977-41.5
VOLVO CAR CORP.123,576174,623-29.2
JAGUAR LAND ROVER Group69,028125,446-45.0
LAND ROVER49,04681,986-40.2
JAGUAR19,98243,460-54.0
MAZDA59,090124,748-52.6
MITSUBISHI54,30282,151-33.9
HONDA32,58566,583-51.1
Source: ACEA

2 Includes Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti. 3 Includes Dodge and Maserati

Top-Selling Car Producers in Europe in 2020 (First Half)

The Volkswagen Group easily remained the largest car-manufacturing group in Europe during the first half of 2020. All five largest brands in the group outperformed the broader market with high-earning Porsche the best-performing brand overall thus far this year in Europe.

The PSA Group in contrast mostly lost market share with the exception of the small DS brand that was after Porsche the best-performing marque thus far this year. Opel / Vauxhall was the worst-perfoming major car brand in Europe during the first six months of 2020.

The Renault Group similarly struggled due to the severity of the market closures in southern European countries. Renault sales were in line with the market but Dacia sales nearly halved. Alpine struggled and there are doubts whether it would survive as an independent brand.

The BMW Group moved up ahead of FCA and Hyundai with sales of both BMW and Mini brands down by a third. Both Hyundai and Kia outperformed the market but only just.

The Daimler Group had a mixed performance with the Mercedes-Benz brand doing well but Smart sales down by 87%. Despite the clamour for electric cars, Smart seemed unable to supply cars.

The Toyota Group was the only major carmaker with sales down in Europe thus far in 2020 by less than 30%.

In contrast the FCA Group slipped from fourth to eighth and Ford from sixth to ninth largest carmakers in Europe. Of the smaller carmakers listed individually, only Volvo outperformed the market.

Best-Selling Car Brands in Europe in 2020 (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 2020:

Brand2020 (HY)2019 (HY)% 20/19 HY
1VOLKSWAGEN576,028944,526-39.0
2RENAULT357,015588,515-39.3
3PEUGEOT316,366527,587-40.0
4MERCEDES299,488441,059-32.1
5BMW286,023429,167-33.4
6TOYOTA279,221388,542-28.1
7SKODA278,290398,559-30.2
8FORD273,520510,761-46.4
9AUDI261,482406,760-35.7
10OPEL/VAUXHALL213,893475,042-55.0

Top 10 Car Brands in Europe in 2020 (First Half)

During the first six months of 2020, the largest car brands in Europe were again Volkswagen, Renault, and Peugeot. VW and Renault just outperformed the market while Peugeot sales were just below market average.

Ford slipped from fourth a year ago to eighth and Opel / Vauxhall from fifth to tenth — by far the worst-performing top ten brands in Europe in 2020. As a result, Mercedes-Benz and BMW both moved up two rank positions with sales down by around a third.

Toyota was the top performing of the ten largest brands with sales down 28% but rank position improving from tenth to sixth. Skoda moved up two positions and Audi slipped one.

See also: 2020 (Half Year) Europe: Car Sales by European Union, EFTA and UK Country

European New Car Market in 2020

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.