2016 Europe Automotive Sales by Automaker – The Best-Selling Automotive Manufacturers By Sales Volume
Passenger car sales in Europe rose for the third consecutive year in 2016, and its 6.2% increase put the total for the year just above 15 million units for the first time since pre-crisis 2007. Growth for the past 3 years has totaled 22.2%, or 2.73 million additional sales. That means the market has now officially (and finally) recovered, 8 years after the first big hit that shook up the industry.
However, there’s still room to grow, because even though the US market appears to be at its peak, the European market (EU + EFTA) still has 7.7% to go before hitting its all-time record of 16.16 million sales it hit in 2004. But first, let’s get back to 2016 and see how individual countries have performed: The growth was largely sustained across the region but weighted towards the South, which had the most to catch up to begin with. Italy (+15.8%) and Spain (+10.9%) showed the biggest gains of the major markets, followed by France (+5.1%), Germany (+4.5%) and the UK (+2.3%). Among smaller markets, Iceland (+31.7%), Hungary (+25.1%) and tiny Cyprus (+22.2%) were the most dynamic, while only 2 out of the 30 markets lost volume: The Netherlands at -14.7% and Switzerland at -2%.
