FCA Europe 2014: Sales Results Insights

European car sales are back to a positive trend with 12,9 million units, up 5%. VW Group increases its domination while FCA occupies the 8th position with sales jumping 3,3% to 761.000 units. The market is still dominated by subcompact and compact cars, but SUVs continued to gain market share. That’s why Renault-Nissan increased its share thanks to the Captur (B-SUV) and Qashqai (C-SUV). The positive result of FCA is the result of more registrations of Fiat brand models (500 and 500L), Jeep and Maserati (Ghibli). In the opposite side Alfa Romeo and Lancia posted negative growths again. Despite its age, the Fiat 500 managed to increase its sales once again, outselling the Panda as the best-selling city-car in Europe.

• VW Group is the absolute leader in the European market. One out of 4 cars sold in Europe comes from a VW factory. However its sales didn’t grow as much as other big players such as Renault-Nissan.
• PSA, FCA and Ford remained stable, whereas the German premiums registered tiny growths. GM cars demand fell 5%. Hyundai-Kia outsold FCA.
• Overall growth was possible thanks to the SUVs: all types had positive changes, with the B-SUV ranking first in terms of growth. The Jeep Renegade and Fiat 500X will make part of this positive trend.
• Mid-size and large sedans (D and E segments) are the direct victims of the rising SUV popularity.

• The group sales advanced 3,3% thanks to Fiat, Jeep and Maserati brands. Performance was affected by Lancia and Alfa Romeo.
• A shocking 44% of the group sales corresponded to city-cars. That’s quite a lot and doubles the sales of B-Segment cars. MPV sales were boosted by the 500L. Very low numbers for the C segment.

• The 500 and the Panda were the only nameplates to surpass the 100k units mark. The 500L did a good job outselling the old Punto.
• The Jeep Cherokee sales had an important growth right as it happened in the USA. The new Alfa Romeo 4C and Maserati Ghibli had their first full year on the market.
• The Ducato had the highest segment share and it was followed by the 500L, which was the leader in its segment.
• FCA owned 29% of the European city-car segment.

• Premium products continue to gain share.
• BMW and VW Group (Audi and Porsche) lead the race. SUV, C and D segments ranked first in the premium category.

 

European Car Market by Segment

• The city-car segment remained stable in terms of sales with 1,15 million units or 9% of total market. Once again FCA leads the segment with a comfortable margin over the second position.
• The Fiat 500 advanced, the Panda was stable and the VW Up! was down 4%. The new Renault Twingo helped to offset the fall of the previous generation but its real impact will occur during 2015. The Opel Adam did good but is still far from the leaders.
• The VW city-cars had a bad second full year. The Hyundai i10 shines.

• The B was Europe’s single largest car segment with 2,9 million units, up 2%. Almost all car makers are present in this segment, with the rare exception of Daimler.
• The Ford Fiesta was the best-selling subcompact in Europe. It was closely followed by the Renault Clio. VW leads as a group thanks to the Polo and Fabia.
• Budget cars posted significant growths: Dacia Logan, Skoda Rapid and Mitsubishi SpaceStar.
• Toyota outsold FCA with its Yaris. The old Punto continues to fall and it is not even in the top 10. The Fiat was outsold by the Mini Cooper.
• Among the premiums, the Audi A1 lead the race (95.014 units), and closely followed by the Mini (94.909). Then comes the Citroen DS3 (53k units), the VW Beetle (29k units) and the Alfa Romeo MiTo (17k units).

• Amazing how the VW Golf manages to lead this segment with those high numbers. The Golf more than doubled the second most popular compact in Europe, the Ford Focus. VW Group has a clear advantage over all of its competitors controlling 39% of the segment against 9% of its immediate rival, PSA. VW positioned its 4 compacts in the top 10.
• GM and Ford didn’t have a good year, just as it happened to BMW and Mercedes.

• The usual leader saw how the new Mercedes C-Class caught a bit of its share. The 3-series demand fell 17% but it is still the best-selling mid-size sedan in Europe. The old Audi A4 lost one position.
• VW Group leads with an old Passat (the new generation will change the ranking this year), an old Audi A4 and an old Skoda Superb.
• Among the mainstreams, the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia did a very good job thanks to the its update. Incredibly, the Skoda Superb (at its 5th year in the market) managed to increase its sales by 7%. Bad figures for the Ford Mondeo, Peugeot 508, Renault Laguna and Citroen C5.

• Large sedans demand fell 2% as some of its usual clients move into the large SUVs. Daimler kept its pole position as the best-selling large sedan car maker thanks to the E-Class, but its sales went down 6% while its brother, the CLS, registered a massive fall of 31%. The BMW couple (5 and 6 series) posted also negative changes. It was also the case of the Audi A7, with stable numbers for the A6.
• The positive news came from the small and medium volume players: the big surprise was the Volvo V70, that despite its age, increased its registrations. The Maserati Ghibli had a good start and thanks to governments incentives, the Tesla Model S occupied place #7 outselling some important nameplates. Lancia, Hyundai and Renault lost their battles.

• The segment’s growth was boosted by the arrival of the new Mercedes S-Class, the Bentleys and Maserati, and the Audi A8.
• The new Mercedes S-Class is a hit. It allowed Daimler to increase its position within the segment and the distance with VW Group. This could change this year when the new Porsche Panamera and Audi A8 will arrive.
• The Bentley Flying Spur and Maserati Quattroporte registered big jumps but their volumes are still very low.

• As it happens to the small 500 in A-Segment, the large one also reigns in its segment. The 500L is Europe’s best-selling small MPV for the second year in a row. This Fiat’s demand increased 25% in a segment with sales down 1%. This was possible thanks to the Italian market, where the 500L was among the top 5 best-selling cars.
• But the most significant event in the segment came from Nissan. The Note jumped from the 7th position in 2013 to the second one last year. It outsold the Opel Meriva, Ford B-Max and Citroen C3 Picasso.
• Too bad for the Dacia Lodgy, Ford B-Max and Citroen C3 Picasso.

• The Compact MPV ranking changed during 2014 with the launch of the new Citroen C4 Picasso. The popular Renault Scenic was dethroned by the Citroen. The C4 Picasso’s good start had also a negative effect on the demand of the Ford C-Max, VW Touran and the Opel Zafira.
• The ranking may change again this year as VW just launched the new Touran (after 12 years in the market!) and Ford updated the C-Max. The new VW Golf Sportsvan had a very good start.
• This kind of vehicles is still very popular in France and Spain.

• Large minivans sales grew 4% thanks mostly to the arrival of the Mercedes V-Class and the good results of the couple from VW, the Sharan and the Alhambra. Ford’s Galaxy and S-Max posted positive results as well.
• The old Citroen C8, Peugeot 807 and Renault Espace’s sales had big falls.

• The B-SUV was Europe’s fastest growing segment in 2014. Sales reached almost 870.000 units and the segment’s share jumped from 4,9% to 6,8%. If this positive trend continues, the small SUV segment will soon outsell the city-car and D segments.
• Once again Renault-Nissan reigned thanks to the popular Renault Captur, with sales up a massive 91%, the low-cost Dacia Duster, up 46% (despite the fact that is has been in the market without any important modification since 2010) and the Nissan Juke (-9%). French market is also part of the explanation: it is the largest in Europe for this kind of cars.
• However PSA and its Peugeot 2008 outperformed Renault. The new C4 Cactus had also a good start thanks to the French and Spanish markets. Other good performers include the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka.
• The Skoda Yeti (boosted by German sales) and Mini Countryman remained stable, whereas the new Jeep Renegade had a very slow start. The Ford Ecosport sales had a big jump but they are still very small in volume.

• Compact SUVs demand had also a positive growth. They are as popular as the city-cars or the mid-size sedans/SW. VW leads as a group thanks to the always popular Tiguan and the Audi Q3. However it lost market share as Ford and its Kuga improved its position, and Mercedes delivered more units of its GLA.
• The Nissan Qashqai still rules but its sales were negatively affected by the change of generation. Hyundai and Kia are well positioned too.
• Notice the very low market share of GM and FCA despite their good skills making SUVs. The Mazda CX-5 became the best-selling Japanese, outselling the popular Toyota RAV4 (the new generation seems not to be storngly appreciated) and the Honda CR-V. What role is going to play the new Renault Kadjar?

• After 5 years in the market, the Volvo XC60 managed to top the European mid-size SUV ranking outselling the Audi Q5 and BMW X3. New and more efficient engines may explain the boom demand.
• BMW X3’s fall was somehow offset by the X4 which managed to enter the top 10 during its first full year in the market.
• Another good performer was the Mitsubishi Outlander, with sales up 30% thanks to Northern European markets and their electric car incentives. The new comers Porsche Macan and Jeep Cherokee had also very good results.
• Too bad for the boxy Mercedes GLK. The new generation is coming soon.

• BMW and Land Rover (which makes part of Tata group) were the big winners in the large SUV segment. In the opposite side there are VW Group and Mercedes. BMW and its updated X5 was able to jump from place #4 in 2013 to rank first in 2015. It was also helped by fewer demand for the old Audi Q7 (launched in 2006) and the Mercedes ML (to be updated and renamed as GLE).
• The Range Rovers had also a very good year with the Sport version outselling the Porsche Cayenne (down a massive 27%) and VW Touareg. FCA occupied an important position thanks to the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which became more popular than the Porsche, Range Rover and Audi Q7.

• The race between the Mercedes SLK and the Audi TT was again quite close. This may change this year as the new TT will arrive in the market.
• Nevertheless, VW group sales ranked first as they were also helped by the Porsche couple demand (Boxster and Cayman).
• The Jaguar F-Type did a wonderful job in terms of sales, in a segment down 14% to only 51.000 units.
• FCA sold 967 Alfa Romeo 4Cs. That wasn’t enough to surpass the Toyota GT86.

• As usual the Porsche 911 was the most popular super car in the European roads. This kind of cars accounted for 0,2% of total market, and were half of the size of the mid-size sport cars segment.
• The new BMW i8 impresses. Too bad for Mercedes and all the FCA products (except for the new Ferrari California).

• PSA in the pole position thanks to its Citroen Berlingo and Peugeot Partner, both with negative changes. The VW Caddy is Europe’s best-selling compact passenger LCV.
• Mercedes goes ahead with its Citan, while its cousin, the Renault Kangoo was one of the few to post a positive growth.
• Too bad for Fiat, and Ford. Notice that the Fiat Qubo sales more than tripled the demand of its cousins from PSA, Citroen Nemo and Peugeot Bipper.

• The big passenger LCV segment was dominated by far by VW Group and its old and popular Transporter. It was followed by the Fiat Ducato, which managed to increase its registrations by 13% thanks in part to the arrival of the new generation by the final months of 2014.

 

Europe includes: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.