EU approval January 2012: Sales are falling

N Almost all volume markets in Europe had to struggle with declining registration numbers at the start of 2012. Spain was the only exception. On the Iberian Peninsula, 54,961 cars were registered, 2.5 percent more than a year earlier. The results in Great Britain were almost on a par with the previous year, where 128,853 new car registrations were recorded. The German car market was down 0.4 percent with 210,195 new car registrations. In Italy, new registrations even fell by 16.9 percent to just 137,119 cars. Our French neighbors were hit even worse. Here 147,057 new car registrations resulted in a drop of 20.7 percent.

VW remains market leader in Europe

The VW Group remains the undisputed market leader in Europe in 2012, with a market share of 23.9 percent (plus 1.9 percent). The core brand VW has a market share of 12.8 percent (plus 0.8 percent). The second force in the EU market is still Ford with a market share of 8.3 percent (plus 0.3 percent). The PSA group has a market share of 12.5 percent, with Peugeot accounting for 6.8 percent (minus 0.7). Citroen comes to 5.8 percent (minus 0.4). Renault secures a market share of 6.4 percent (minus 2.0) in January, Opel is 5.8 percent (minus 1.0) and Fiat 4.9 percent (minus 0.7). In the premium three-way battle Audi-BMW-Mercedes in January, the Ingolstadt-based company with 5.1 percent (plus 0.7) is ahead of the competition, each with 4.3 percent. Mercedes was able to increase by 0.5 percent, BMW lost 0.1 percent. Toyota also has a market share of 4.3 percent. Skoda achieved 3.9 percent, Nissan 3.5 percent.