For the second time this year, the Renault Clio led the European ranking in May 2020, outselling the popular Volkswagen Golf which usually tops the model sales chart.
According to JATO Dynamics, both Renault and VW models saw double digit declines, but the French model’s better availability supported its success.
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Its model changeover was a significant contributing factor as the latest generation is now fully available in many markets. The fifth generation model contributed to 80% of Clio registrations in May.
In contrast, the Golf, which was also in changeover at the same time, did not benefit from the usual new generation boost because VW had to interrupt delivery due to a software error in mid May.
The lack of availability of the new Golf – which accounted for 17% of the nameplate’s registrations during the month – explained the bigger decrease.
The third generation Peugeot 208 ranked third with almost 11,000 units.
New car registrations fell by 57% in May to 622,067 units across 27 markets, taking the cumulative result for 2020 to 3.95m units, down by 43% year on year.
“Although this seems like a significant decrease, May’s result mark a positive turning point, up from the decrease registered in April, when the volume fell by 78%,” JATO noted.
As markets across Europe started to ease lockdown restrictions, registrations started to show small signs of recovery.
Felipe Munoz, JATO global analyst, said: “Registrations volumes more than doubled in May, compared to the figures achieved in April.
“Despite the positive signs of recovery, a proportion of these registrations could correspond to sales that occurred prior to lockdown; therefore, we still do not have enough information to predict whether Europe will experience a V or a U shaped recovery.”
Private registrations gained significant traction last month, demonstrating that the decrease seen in April was mostly driven by lockdown and fewer consumers acquiring new cars.
Munoz said: “It is not unusual to see larger drops in business and fleet registrations than private registrations.
“Although, both have been severely affected by the outbreak, private registrations are often more profitable for OEMs, and are thus a more realistic indicator of the economic temperature.”
Four SUVs also made the model top 10. Last month, four of 10 new cars registered were SUVs with volume down 53% to 250,000 units in May 2020.
This segment was led by the Renault Captur, Volkswagen T-Roc, Dacia Duster, Volkswagen Tiguan and Peugeot 2008.
Other SUVs that performed well in May, were the new Ford Puma with 5,523 units, Skoda Kamiq (4,036), Mazda CX-30 (2,936), Mercedes GLE (up by 116% to 2,919) and the Audi Q3 Sportback (2,825).
EVs down
While petrol and diesel new car registrations decreased by 62% and 59% respectively in May, electrified vehicles posted a moderate decline of just 8% as volume fell from 103,400 units in May 2019 to 95,300 last month.
This small decline allowed electrified vehicles to increase their market share from 7.2% in May 2019 to 15.3% in May 2020, taking the year to date tally to 600,500- less than half the total recorded by diesel cars, 1.17m units.
Growth was driven by PHEVs, as such models offer a viable alternative for those hoping to buy a more affordable cars than pure electric vehicles.
Munoz said: “The crisis has shown us that hybrid demand and growth fluctuates while plug in cars gain traction due to lower prices. Nevertheless, we suspect that mild hybrids will soon boost hybrid sales.”
The Renault Zoe led the ranking among the electric vehicles but the Volkswagen e-Golf was the true driver of growth in May.
The Ford Puma also outsold the Toyota Yaris, and the Fiat 500 secured sixth position among hybrids – both mild hybrids, unlike the ageing Toyota which is soon to be redesigned.
PHEVs were led by the Kuga, clearly impacting the Mitsubishi Outlander.
The worst performing segments were MPVs, city cars, luxury sedans, compact cars and executive sedans.
MPV registrations fell so heavily they were outsold by LCV-derived vans, now more popular among European consumers.
