SUVs saw a record share as the European car market continued to grow in October 2019 and 1,208,700 vehicles were registered – the highest volume for that month of the last decade.
The strong growth, of course could partly be explained by the market dropping in October 2018 following the introduction of WLTP, which has improved the year to date (YTD) data overall. However, JATO Dynamics noted, the market was still down 0.8% year on year with 13,284,600 vehicles registered so far in 2019.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
"The European market is facing a myriad of challenges at the moment, but the biggest threats to growth are not having a significant impact on sales – at least for the time being," said analyst Felipe Munoz.
Seventeen of the 27 markets included in analysis posted double-digit growth in October 2019. It was a particularly good month for Germany, where demand increased by 13%.
October also saw increased consumer demand for SUVs and electrified vehicles. Demand increased 22% to 484,400 SUVs registered in Europe and the segment posted a record market share of 40%.
Electrified vehicles demand increased by 79% for plug-in hybrids, 32% for pure electrics and 29% for hybrids. Sales of such vehicles rose 41% to during the month.
Volkswagen achieved the highest market share increase jumping from 20.7% in October 2018 to 25.1% last month. Hyundai-Kia, Toyota, Renault-Nissan, Mazda and Tesla also recorded gains noned exceeded 1% overall.
Notable results from brand rankings include Opel/Vauxhall and Fiat falling out of the top 10; Volvo outselling Nissan; Porsche outselling Honda; and Tesla recording a 129% volume increase to 2,093 registrations.
Model rankings saw the VW Golf top while the Tiguan was the best-selling SUV.
Other strong performers included the new Toyota Corolla (nee Auris), Renault Megane (+43%), Hyundai Kona (+37%), Seat Arona (+30%), Renault Kadjar (+58%), Skoda Kodiaq (+181%), Toyota RAV4 (+39%), Audi A4 (+225%), Audi A6 (+50%) and Audi Q2 (+63%).
