2023 (Half Year) Europe: Best-Selling Car Manufacturers and Brands

First semester 2023: Volkswagen, Toyota, and Audi were the top-selling car brands in Europe during the first half of the year.

First semester 2023: Volkswagen, Toyota, and Audi were the top-selling car brands in Europe during the first half of the year.
Tour de France 2023 with Škoda © Skoda

Volkswagen, Stellantis, and Renault were the largest car manufacturing groups in Europe during the first half of 2023 with Volkswagen, Toyota, and Audi the top-selling car brands. The Volkswagen Group increased market share to over a quarter of the European new passenger vehicle market while just over every tenth new car registered in Europe thus far in 2023 was by VW brand. During the first half of 2023, new passenger vehicle registrations in Europe (including the European Union, EFTA countries, and the United Kingdom) increased by 17.6% to 6,588,937 cars. The Tesla Model Y was the top-selling car model.

Latest European Car Market Statistics — 2024; 2023: By Country, Brands, Models, Electric Models and months: January, February, Q1, April, May, June (HY), July, August, September, Q3, October; 20222021 & 2020.

Best-Selling Car Manufacturers and Brands in Europe in 2023 (First Half)

The top-selling car manufacturers and marques in Europe (EU, EFTA, UK) during the first six months of 2023 according to the ACEA were as follows:

Manufacturer / Brand1-6/20231-6/2022% 23/22
Volkswagen Group1,701,8661,357,39725.4
Volkswagen700,621568,51723.2
Audi376,294298,45026.1
Skoda340,839259,55431.3
Seat133,833120,47311.1
Cupra92,01063,35045.2
Porsche53,15242,43425.3
Others25,1164,61910.8
Stellantis1,145,8151,087,8455.3
Peugeot358,009333,2737.4
Opel/Vauxhall242,667228,3746.3
Fiat3200,185209,002-4.2
Citroen196,348197,454-0.6
Jeep64,02257,63011.1
DS28,15024,90413.0
Alfa Romeo27,29913,091108.5
Lancia/Chrysler23,90621,53811.0
Others45,2292,579102.8
Renault Group648,467522,72024.1
Renault351,489294,16919.5
Dacia295,225226,95530.1
Alpine1,7531,5969.8
Hyundai Group575,432557,0253.3
Kia304,757293,5773.8
Hyundai270,675263,4482.7
Toyota Group450,341399,39112.8
Toyota422,110381,05610.8
Lexus28,23118,33554.0
BMW Group445,440405,9089.7
BMW353,876322,7949.6
Mini91,56583,11410.2
Mercedes-Benz352,563327,2627.73
Mercedes340,399314,5998.2
Smart12,16412,663-3.9
Ford275,692258,6806.6
Tesla186,06685,582117.4
Nissan148,340116,90426.9
Volvo Cars143,829119,32320.5
Mazda93,82865,30443.7
Suzuki90,30666,33736.1
Jaguar Land Rover Group73,65361,64619.5
Land Rover61,30747,97527.8
Jaguar12,34613,671-9.7
Mitsubishi20,02230,209-33.7
Honda28,63637,139-22.9
1 ACEA estimation based on total by market
2 Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and MAN
3 Includes Abarth
4 Dodge, Maserati and RAM

The Volkswagen Group easily remained the largest carmaker in Europe during the first half of 2023 by increasing sales by a quarter to take a 25.8% share of the European new car market. Stellantis underperformed while Renault regained third place with strong sales.

Top Ten Best-Selling Car Brands in Europe in 2023 (Half Year)

The top ten car brands in Europe during the first half of 2023 were:

Brand1-6/20231-6/2022% 23/22
1Volkswagen700,621568,51723.2
2Toyota422,110381,05610.8
3Audi376,294298,45026.1
4Peugeot358,009333,2737.4
5BMW353,876322,7949.6
6Renault351,489294,16919.5
7Skoda340,839259,55431.3
8Mercedes340,399314,5998.2
9Kia304,757293,5773.8
10Dacia295,225226,95530.1

Volkswagen easily remained the largest car brand in Europe during the first half of 2023. VW increased its market share by half a percentage point to 10.6% of the total European new car market. Toyota maintained second place despite losing market share.

Audi outperformed the broader market and moved up to third from sixth. Peugeot and BMW each slipped down one position with sales below market average. Renault gained one place.

Skoda, which suffered more than most brands from supply-side issues in 2022, was the most-improved top-ten brand and recovered seventh place from tenth. Mercedes slipped from fifth while Kia slipped one position as the weakest-performing top brand. Dacia entered the top-ten list from 13th with sales up 30%.

The Tesla Model Y and Dacia Sandero were the top-selling car models in Europe in the first half of 2023.

Europe Car Sales Statistics

→  Latest European Car Sales Statistics

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.