Europe's sales have been declining continuously for the past six years, and this year it has achieved growth

In recent years, the European car market has had a difficult time, with sales continuing to decline. First affected by the US financial crisis, and then by the European debt crisis, passenger car sales have been declining year by year from 2008 to 2013. However, as the impact of the European debt crisis gradually subsided, sales finally saw growth in 2014.

According to data compiled by Gaishi Automotive Network, the European automotive market (EFTA countries in the 28 EU member states) has achieved sales growth this year, with a cumulative sales of 8.6366 million passenger cars from January to August, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%. As of August, the European market has been rising for a year, with sales of 701100 vehicles in August, a year-on-year increase of 1.8%. The main reason is related to the gradual fading of the impact of the European debt crisis.

In the past few years, various crises have emerged one after another, causing unprecedented impact on the European market. Firstly, the US financial crisis, followed by the European debt crisis, led to a six-year consecutive decline in European car market sales, from 15.9598 million units in 2007 to 12.3082 million units in 2013, with an overall drop of 22.9%.

Significant recovery in sales in the UK market

From the perspective of a single market, from January to August this year, under the overall growth trend of the European car market, sales in its four major single markets also achieved growth. Among them, the sales in the UK market have shown strong recovery momentum, with double-digit year-on-year growth of 10.1% to 1.5323 million vehicles, second only to Germany, and still the second largest automotive market in Europe. It is worth mentioning that the UK ranked fourth in car sales in the European market in 2009, surpassed Italy in 2010, and then surpassed France in 2012, ranking second in sales in the European market.

The recovery rate of passenger car sales in Germany, France, and Italy is relatively slow, with only a 2.6%, 1.6%, and 3.5% increase from January to August this year, respectively. Among them, German passenger cars sold 2.0216 million units, still the largest single market in Europe. The sales of passenger cars in France and Italy were 1.1862 million and 925400 respectively.

Volkswagen accounts for a quarter, General Motors' sales decline

From a corporate perspective, Volkswagen still holds a dominant position in the European market, with passenger car sales of 2.2059 million units from January to August this year, a year-on-year increase of 8.0%, and a market share of 25%, far higher than other companies. The second largest PSA Group saw a 4.0% increase in sales in Europe to 935700 vehicles, accounting for 10.8% of the market and significantly lagging behind Volkswagen Group.

The market share of other enterprises is less than 10%. Among them, Renault Group's sales have significantly increased, with car sales of 827500 units from January to August, a year-on-year increase of 16.1%, far exceeding the market average. Its market share is 9.6%, a year-on-year increase of nearly 1 percentage point.

Ford Group's sales increased by 6.5% year-on-year to 634700 vehicles, ranking fourth. General Motors Group, ranked fifth, saw its sales drop from 647300 vehicles to 626700 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 3.2%. It is the only company among the top ten in the European market to experience a decline, with Chevrolet brand sales plummeting by 64.9%, which is the main factor dragging down its growth.

The top ten companies in the European car market by sales are Volkswagen, PSA, Renault, Ford, General Motors, BMW, Fiat, Daimler, Toyota, and Nissan.