[vishnugs]

Hello Friends,

One of the threads which I always look for on Teambhp is the monthly sales statistics thread. It gives an insight into how the industry is moving, perception and outlook of buyers towards makes and models.

I was travelling to Germany few weeks back and got a chance to dive into the stats in the Europe market. It was interesting to compare the India sales pattern with the EU one viz. Suzuki = Volkswagen, Swift = Golf, etc. This also gives us a glimpse of what to expect from European OEMs for the Indian market. One reason I kept this in India car scene is to because, I want this thread to focus on comparing and contrasting the trends and patterns in India vs the mature markets, not just look at it in isolation which is not all that interesting.

Data Source : Public Sales Data for EU region from KBA

My observations:

1) EU industry is dominated by Volkswagen, more or less like Suzuki in India. The majority of volumes within VW flows from VW Golf (like Swift).
2) In the entry level car segment, its not the Japs, but Skoda cars which are catching up with the market share in EU displacing the Japs in that space.
3) EU is moving to smaller and smaller engines, the latest buzz all around is 1L TSI that produces 100 PS, this is expected to power the entry model of 2016 Skoda Octavia and many other VW models. We should see this soon in Jetta and other cars in India too.
4) BMW though claiming leadership in brand perception has its 3 series in top 7 ! selling a whooping 60K units per annum. Wonder how they write home about the sales in BMW India.
5) In the best car review shootouts, VW tops in VFM, BMW / Audi tops in performance, Skoda tops in space.
6) Renault (Dacia) Duster in same segment as Jeep Renegade, Skoda Yeti, SX4 Cross, etc. Glad that such products are affordable in India aswell.
7) Quite surprised to see the price users are ready to pay for high end Navigation systems, that a whooping 4K Euro where we can buy an entry level car in India. Tata seems to be taking the lead here with Zest and Bolt infotainment systems.

Audi : MMI Navigation Plus : 3380 Euro
Mercedes CLS : Command Online : 3487

8) Next gen Audi and Skoda products look very exciting. But I am not a fan of the LCD based instrument cluster, it looks little cheap vs the classy dials.

More Links:

2015 Octavia 1.0 TSI producing 100 PS and 160NM torque

Audi A4 to get the LCD based instrument cluster as in TT

Golf vs the rest

SUV under 40K Euro shootout


These are just my observations, open to the forum for more from the data in the attachments.

Vishnu GS

[nik_kapur]

Great stuff man. Very informative.
I am surprised to see how small Honda is in the Euro Market.

VW seems to be the king and i wish they could replicate some of this in India. People just don't get how good their cars are !! I am convinced that they build better cars than the Japs.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the International Forum. Thanks for sharing!

[aravind.anand]

That is quite an eye opener in many ways ! VW is such a strong brand to reckon with in Europe, while Suzuki and Honda fall in the 'Participated in the race' category. Quite the opposite of what we see here.

Also, 2.55 Lakh Golfs being sold is really commendable - the car really should have something special in it I believe. It is quite evident that the Europeans expect solid build quality in their cars, and Japanese just wouldn't do.

[GTO]

Lovely thread, Vishnugs. Many thanks for sharing! Some numbers that stood out to me:

- In the entire of Europe, VW sells lesser cars than Maruti does in one country (i.e. India)! The Indian Polo sells about 50% of what it manages in Europe. That's saying a lot.

- Very surprised to see Opel at no.5. The brand has been through a lot of turmoil. I thought it was a has-been. Clearly not the case.

- Ford has the potential to sell more cars in India than Europe. At any given point in time however, Ford India consistently remains a one-trick pony.

- Hyundai - wow, only 1 lakh cars! They sold 4 times that in India last year. Now you know why we get global launches first.

- Europe is perhaps the most unique market which doesn't have a SINGLE Japanese car manufacturer in the top 10.

- Toyota - merely 70k? They sell more Innovas here!

- Shocked to see Fiat & Peugeot's poor standing in their home market.

- Suzuki & Mitsubishi sell as many cars as the super-expensive Porsche!

- Honda sells 7 times more cars in India.

- Chevrolet Europe - Is it run by the same dimwits who run Chevrolet India? Sure seems like it . Must be a nice job, sleep in Europe...sleep in India.

- The A3 is a hit for Audi and how. 65000 cars...wow! It has outsold the Octavia too.

[Santoshbhat]

Interesting stats these. Shows how different demographies have different priorities and preferences.

I am quite surprised to see how many 3's and C's that BMW and Mercedes manage to sell in the EU. Audi also manages to cross 1 lakh with the A3 and A4 combined!

Another interesting thing to note is the absence of big SUVs in that list. Europe clearly does not like SUVs. Its a very American thing, the SUV.

[volkman10]

Guys interested in Suzuki Eu sales here it is.

Suzuki sales rose 7 percent to 162,828 in the EU and EFTA markets last year, lifting the brand's market share one one percentage point to 1.3 percent, according to industry association ACEA.

Sales of the Swift in Europe fell 3 percent to 49,842 in 2014, according to JATO Dynamics market researchers. Sales of the Jimny rose 2 percent to 10,835. SX4 sales halved to 13,955, while SX4 C-Cross volume increased almost fourfold to 39,208 units.


Source: Automotive news

[abhishek46]

Folks, this data is for whole of Europe or only the EU region. (which excludes UK and some others?)

[Dr.AD]

It is a great thread. Thanks to the OP for starting this!

Originally Posted by abhishek46

Folks, this data is for whole of Europe or only the EU region. (which excludes UK and some others?)

I have the same question. Actually on first thought, I thought this data (the table in the OP) is for Germany only, because some quick Google search for German sales data seems to indicate that. However, some more search confused me further. The trends make more sense (seem more intuitive) if they are for Germany only, since it is well known that the Japanese cars don't sell much in Germany. Honda and Toyota are the mid-low rank players there. But as GTO pointed out, this seems very non-intuitive for the entire EU.

Originally Posted by volkman10

Suzuki sales rose 7 percent to 162,828 in the EU and EFTA markets last year...
Sales of the Swift in Europe fell 3 percent to 49,842 in 2014, according to JATO Dynamics market researchers. Sales of the Jimny rose 2 percent to 10,835. SX4 sales halved to 13,955, while SX4 C-Cross volume increased almost fourfold to 39,208 units.
Source: Automotive news

This further contradicts with the data given in this thread, which says that Suzuki sold 27,835 cars in 2014, whereas this info from the above post says Suzuki sold 49,842 units of Swift alone in Europe.

So something is not adding up. Hence my doubts.

So it would be great if the OP could please clarify what region exactly this data is for? Anyways, thanks a lot for this data!

[dreamliner17]

Thanks vishnugs for pointing out a very interesting comparison ! Seldom do we try to dwell on what the automotive industry in other countries will be about. Its indeed an interesting find that certain brands do well in their sub-continent , with some exceptions . The Volkswagen group, Mercedes Benz and BMW are undoubtedly 'the' most sought after car brands in Europe. Whereas Toyota and Honda are the sought after ones in the USA, and European cars are pretty expensive, even in the second hand car market in the USA.

Originally Posted by GTO

- Very surprised to see Opel at no.5. The brand has been through a lot of turmoil. I thought it was a has-been. Clearly not the case.

- Ford has the potential to sell more cars in India than Europe. At any given point in time however, Ford India consistently remains a one-trick pony.

Opel is one company which sells decent numbers in their car as well as minivan categories (atleast in Germany). A particular mention about the Movano and Vivaro (In the minivan category) and Insignia ( amongst cars) which can be seen in large numbers on the roads. FIAT, CITROËN and RENAULT are other companies which have a strong presence in the minivan segment.

Ford has quite a fan following in Europe. Ford and Opel are two brands which are considered as 'dependable' and are used in Germany, Italy and Austria very extensively. Special mention about Mondeo, Focus and Fiesta ; the ones packing in decent numbers. I sorely miss the Ford Kuga in India.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

I am quite surprised to see how many 3's and C's that BMW and Mercedes manage to sell in the EU.
Another interesting thing to note is the absence of big SUVs in that list. Europe clearly does not like SUVs. Its a very American thing, the SUV.

Like we in india crave for dependable cars, the people in European countries also crave for the same and the Volkswagen group including its subsidiaries, Mercedes Benz and BMW is a luxury product. This is a fact and even the Europeans know about it. This is also the reason why we see soo many 1 series, 3 series, A3 , A4 , A class, B class , C class in Europe. The higher models like 7 series and above, S class and above, A8 and above etc is a rarity there.
I didn't see too many SUV's though. A mention in the compact SUV segment, Mazda CX-5 and Ford Kuga were the ones visible.

P.S : These are just my views/observations/opinions and are not backed by any formal statistics and other references. This is my experience last year, on a short trip in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Austria in a Ford Kuga.

[nishchal316]

That's some information. Hyundai is doing really great, actually even better than toyota. No wonder they are getting better and better day by day

[rvlkiran]

vishnugs, I believe that the statistics you have shared are only for the German market. Here are the figures for Europe as per the following links.
- 2014 Europe best selling car models
- 2014 Europe (EU+EFTA) top manufacturers

The VW Golf is still the #1 car, though !

[bullrun87]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

Folks, this data is for whole of Europe or only the EU region. (which excludes UK and some others?)

This data is for Germany alone and does not represent the whole of Europehttp://www.theicct.org/sites/default...ithNotes-1.pdf
http://www.best-selling-cars.com/ger...brands-models/
The above link clearly shows that That Germany alone buys 3 million cars a year, while the EU as a whole buys about 14 million. The data shown in the PDF link though old, is really informative.

[sandeepmohan]

The first thing I did after reading that list was google Opel Netherlands. I was greeted by a car model that was once on sale in India. The new Opel Corsa. They have a very good lineup of cars catering to every segment. The Agila and Combo Tour seem to be clones of the Suzuki Ritz and Fiat Doblo.

I was not surprised to find VW on the top. Very mysterious as to why Japanese cars aren't anywhere close in terms of appeal and whatever else may be required to promote good sales.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by vishnugs

One of the threads which I always look for on Teambhp is the monthly sales statistics thread. It gives an insight into how the industry is moving, perception and outlook of buyers towards makes and models.
….

Great thread! Thanks for sharing

Originally Posted by GTO

…
…
- Very surprised to see Opel at no.5. The brand has been through a lot of turmoil. I thought it was a has-been. Clearly not the case.

- Ford has the potential to sell more cars in India than Europe. At any given point in time however, Ford India consistently remains a one-trick pony.
…
…
- Europe is perhaps the most unique market which doesn't have a SINGLE Japanese car manufacturer in the top 10.
…
- The A3 is a hit for Audi and how. 65000 cars...wow! It has outsold the Octavia too.

To add on to this – the UK market does it a bit differently with Ford topping the list, that too with a good margin. I was expecting VW to don the second spot, but was surprised to see Vauxhall (Opel) there.

• Ford is the topseller with the Fiesta and Focus occupying the first and second spot respectively.
  
• VW is in 3rd with two of their best-selling hatchbacks Golf and Polo occupying 4th and 7th place respectively.
  
• Big sellers from Opel (Vauxhall) are the Corsa and Astra, two names we are so familiar with.
  
• The big 3 Germans get a place in the top 10 with Audi leading the way, followed by BMW and Mercedes.
  
• Surprised to see Nissan as the top Japanese brand in the list with the Qashqai and Juke leading the pack.

Brand-wise sales in the UK - 2014


Top-10 models - 2014


Information Source:
http://www.rmif.co.uk/associations/nfda/
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk