European car sales up in April, but year-to-date decline continues

May 20, 2013: According to the latest new car sales analysis from JATO Dynamics, the leading provider of automotive intelligence, the Volkswagen Golf continued to be Europe’s best-selling car, increasing by 17.9percent in April compared to 2012. Four B-segment cars, the Renault Clio, Volkswagen Polo, Peugeot 208, and Ford Fiesta complete the top five.

The European new car market increased by 2.0% in April compared to April 2012. Year-to-date sales remain down by 7.1%
Within the ‘Big 5’ markets, Great Britain continued to record increased registrations and both Germany and Spain also experienced an increase in April. The Italian and French markets remain down year-on-year
B-segment models took four out of the top five places
Five of the top 10 brands recorded an increase in April sales, but only Mercedes recorded a year-to-date increase (2.4%)

Despite Finland experiencing the largest increase of 141.6percent in April compared to last year, year-to-date figures remained down 27.8percent on 2012. The dramatic change year-on-year is due to an increase in car tax in April last year that resulted in an artificially high sales volume the previous month (March). Therefore,according to JATO, the dramatic negative shift year-on-year is only reflective of a return to a more expected sales pattern.

Although five brands recorded increased sales in April (Volkswagen, Ford, Opel/Vauxhall, Audi and Mercedes), Mercedes was the only brand in the top 10 to record an increase in year-to-date sales (2.4percent higher than the same period in 2012).

Outside the top 10 the story was similar to March. Dacia, SEAT, Land Rover and Subaru all recorded significant increases in April sales. Subaru reported the highest increase out of these brands with a 61.6percent increase year-on-year.



The Volkswagen Golf continued to be Europe’s best-selling car, increasing year-on-year sales by 17.9percent for the month. The Renault Clio (pictured above) recorded an increase in sales in April 2013, compared to April 2012, with the successful introduction of the new shape model, contributing to an increase of 29.0percent year-on-year and 17.1 percent year-to-date.

Four out of the top five best-selling models were B-segment models, with the VW Polo and Peugeot 208 achieving increased sales volumes over April 2012 while the Ford Fiesta experienced a small drop in sales compared to last April.

Commenting on the findings, Gareth Hession, vice-president of research at JATO, said: “The latest figures show just how much difference having a new product can make, with Volkswagen, Peugeot, Renault and Audi all enjoying increased sales and all but the latter producing one of the top four best-selling models in April.”



Data source: JATO Dynamics