Seat sales surge 63.1% year-on-year in April.

Preliminary data from ACEA shows a European market (EU+EFTA+UK) up 12% year-on-year to 1,080,913 units, partly due to two additional working days. This means the year-to-date tally is now up 6.5% or almost 275,000 sales to 4,476,369. All major Top 5 markets are in positive, with Spain up 23.1%, Germany up 19.8%, France up 10.9%, Italy up 7.5% and UK up 1%. Soaring markets include Cyprus (+105.4%), Bulgaria (+51.3%), Romania (+34.6%), Greece (+31.3%) and Denmark (+27.1%). At the other end of the scale, 8 markets are in negative, with the hardest hit being Iceland (-16.4%), Finland (-15.7%), Malta (-14.1%) and Estonia (-9.8%). Year-to-date, the UK (+8.4%) fare best among the Top 5 markets, followed by Germany and Spain (+7.8%), France (+7%) and Italy (+6.1%). Among other markets, Bulgaria (+47.9%), Cyprus (+26%), Malta (+16.6%) and Poland (+15.5%) stand out whereas Iceland (-46.4%), Estonia (-14.9%), Finland (-13%) and Latvia (-11.8%) struggle.

BEV sales’ growth has slowed down. They gain just 14.4% to 144,656 and 13.4% share, almost unchanged vs. 13.2% a year ago in April 2023. 29,668 BEVs were registered in Germany (-0.2%) for a 12.2% share, 24,850 in France (+45.2%) for a 16.9% share, 22,717 in the UK (+10.7%) for a 16.9% share, 10,051 in Norway (+34.5%) for a 89.4% share and 9,181 in Belgium (+41.6%) for a 23% share. Year-to-date, BEVs are up 6% to 593,325 and 13.3% share, unchanged on the same period in 2023. The largest market for BEVs are Germany at 111,005 (actually down -10.8%), France at 104,673 (+27.7%), the UK at 107,031 (+10.6%) and Belgium at 40,272 (+47.7%). For April, PHEV sales are up 5.5% to 74,766 and 6.9% share vs. 7.3% a year ago, HEV registrations surge 29.1% to 318,854 and 29.5% share vs. 25.6% in April 2023, petrol is up 4.6% to 387,288 and 35.8% share vs. 38.4% last year and diesel edges down -0.8% to 124,943 and 11.6% share vs. 13%. Note petrol and diesel sales combined only account for 46.5% of the market.

In the groups ranking, the VW Group (+14%) beats the market to surpass the 300,000 sales mark. Stellantis (-1.5%) underperforms at #2 while Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi (+12.3%) equals the overall growth. The Toyota Group (+42%) surges ahead but stays at #5 below Hyundai-Kia. Brand-wise, Volkswagen (+14.4%) is solid ahead of Toyota (+42.4%) and BMW (+23.2%) both vastly outpacing the market. Skoda (+14.7%) is up three spots on March to #4, a ranking it also holds year-to-date vs. #7 over the Full Year 2023. Hyundai (+17.6%) and Dacia (+12.6%) are the only two remaining Top 10 carmakers gaining share year-on-year. Audi (-5.1%) and Peugeot (-2.3%) disappoint while Renault (+10.6%) and Mercedes (+4.8%) are soft. Below, Seat (+63.1%), Volvo (+59%) and Suzuki (+33.7%) stand out.

Previous month: Europe March 2024: Toyota (+9%), BMW (+9.4%) impress in negative market, Dacia Sandero #1 over Q1

One year ago: Europe April 2023: Dacia (+44.2%), Skoda (+41.4%), Renault (+36.8%) highlight market up 16.1%, Dacia Sandero #1

Full Europe April 2024 Top 10 groups and Top 30 brands below.

Europe April 2024 – groups (Source ACEA):

PosGroupApr-24/23Mar2024/23PosFY231Volkswagen Group300,598+ 14.0%11,128,943+ 4.0%112Stellantis166,534– 1.5%2764,604+ 2.9%223Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi134,854+ 12.3%3573,192+ 10.7%334Hyundai-Kia91,361+ 1.8%4369,739– 0.6%445Toyota Group84,329+ 42.0%5345,684+ 17.9%566BMW Group74,551+ 11.6%6309,305+ 12.0%657Mercedes54,160+ 4.8%7227,117– 2.9%778Ford Motor36,066– 12.8%8152,552– 15.2%889Volvo33,767+ 59.0%10125,891+ 38.0%91010Suzuki17,318+ 33.7%n/a76,049+ 31.9%11n/a

Europe April 2024 – brands (Source ACEA):

PosBrandApr-24/23Mar2024/23PosFY231Volkswagen122,489+ 14.4%1446,319+ 0.6%112Toyota78,347+ 42.4%2323,007+ 16.3%223BMW65,357+ 23.2%3261,304+ 20.1%344Skoda60,794+ 14.7%7247,917+ 12.2%475Renault  58,841+ 10.6%5219,587+ 3.4%766Audi56,057– 5.1%8220,297– 7.5%637Mercedes51,884+ 4.9%4218,875– 3.3%858Peugeot50,801– 2.3%6235,053+ 1.8%589Dacia50,153+ 12.6%11201,649+ 5.3%91010Hyundai46,618+ 17.6%10181,845+ 5.0%111111Kia44,743– 10.6%9187,894– 5.4%10912Ford  36,066– 12.8%14152,552– 15.2%131213Volvo33,767+ 59.0%17125,891+ 38.0%161814Seat33,167+ 63.1%19103,764+ 16.5%181915Citroën32,862+ 18.5%15147,650+ 12.9%141516Opel/Vauxhall31,049– 16.8%13153,082– 0.5%121317Fiat29,613– 2.3%18130,833– 2.3%151418Nissan21,692+ 14.2%12124,475+ 22.7%171719Suzuki17,318+ 33.7%2176,049+ 31.9%202220MG17,091+ 12.9%2075,912+ 26.6%212021Cupra 16,862+ 10.9%2266,088+ 20.7%222122Tesla13,951– 2.3%16100,124– 7.9%191623Mazda13,742+ 17.2%2358,896– 6.3%232424Porsche10,436+ 26.7%n/a41,591+ 17.9%272725Land Rover10,327+ 9.0%2446,497+ 11.2%262626Jeep10,260+ 17.5%n/a47,251+ 15.4%252527Mini9,194– 33.1%2548,002– 18.2%242328Lexus5,982+ 36.7%n/a22,677+ 45.3%302929Honda5,887+ 49.6%n/a30,017+ 49.5%282830Alfa Romeo4,275– 6.2%n/a16,851– 1.4%3130

Source: ACEA