Europe’s five largest markets all posted negative results in October. Sales in Spain fell by 21% and by 10% in France, while Italy, Germany and the UK registered more moderate drops. Registrations in the EU, UK and EFTA fell to 1.13 million in October from 1.22 million in the same month last year, industry association ACEA said last week.
Most brands lost volume but there were some winners including Audi, Jeep, Fiat and Opel-Vauxhall.
Audi’s registrations rose 19%, Jeep’s sales jumped 7%, Fiat gained 5% and Opel/Vauxhall registrations increased 3%. Renault brand saw a slight rise of 1%.
Despite Audi’s positive result, parent Volkswagen Group’s overall volume dropped by 7%, hit by a 26% plunge in Porsche sales, a 17% drop at VW brand.
PSA Group’s sales fell 5%, with DS down 18%, Citroën slumped by 12% and Peugeot down 5%.
Among brands that had a bad month were Jaguar, whose sales plunged 33%, Ford down 21%, and Nissan down 14%. Luxury automakers also posted losses with BMW brand’s sales falling 14% and rival Mercedes-Benz reporting a 3% drop. Aside from a small gain in September, European sales have been in decline all year and are down 27% through the first 10 months to 9.69 million.