Sales of passenger cars in the EU growing 29 consecutive month

The latest analysis from JATO Dynamics points to a positive start to 2016 for Europe’s ‘big 5’ car markets. A total of 759,600 units were registered in January in Germany, UK, Italy, France and Spain, representing average growth of 6.7% compared with January 2015. Registration volumes grew in all five markets but at different rates as Italy and Spain continued to outperform the overall result by posting double-digit growth.

Last month Italy’s outstanding results (+17%) meant it outsold France and became the third largest market in Europe with 156,200 units. This performance brought Italy closer to the UK, with the gap closing to just over 13,000 units. Year on year the market made a significant jump from January 2015, when the Italian new car market counted for 18.7% of Europe’s big 5 total, to January 2016 when its share jumped to 20.6%. Part of the increase was explained by a pick up in the number of commercial deals. Germany was ahead with more than 218,000 units, but posted the second lowest percentage increase (+3.1%). In the UK, even with a registrations increase of only 2.9%, the market achieved its highest January total for 11 years, thanks mostly to private registrations. French registrations increased by 3.9%, and Spain closed the top 5 with 77,400 units, up by 11.6% on January 2015’s results.

Volkswagen was the best-sellling brand in these markets with 88,900 new cars. Its registrations fell by 4.1%, amid the emissions issues affecting its performance in Germany (-8.8%) and in the UK (-13.8%). The German brand was the only one in the top 10 to post negative growth. Its market share dropped significantly as a result, from 13.0% in January 2015 to 11.7% this month. Ford came next with 7.6% market share and registrations up by 8.4%, driven by its German (+18.9%) and Italian (+18.6%) results. The big volume winner of the month was Opel/Vauxhall with an increase of 12.8% in registrations to  52,000 units, representing a 6.9% market share. It occupied third place in the brands table.