Sales of passenger cars in 2021 dropped to the lowest annual level since 1993, at 11.76 million, down 1.6% on 2020. This makes it the second consecutive year below 12 million, after peaking at 15.66 million in 2019. If 2020 sales were affected by lockdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021 the challenges to the industry were exacerbated by distruptions in the supply chain and a worldwide shortages in semiconductors. Some brands were able to weather this storm better than others thanks to strategic partnerships with suppliers of microchips. The industry is expected to suffer from these supply shortages until the second half of 2022 so we expect European sales to have bottomed out and predict a recovery to start this year.
Among the five major markets, only Germany posted a decline (-10.5%), while Italy (+5.5%), UK and Spain (both +1.0%) and France (+0.5%) shows modest growth figures. Biggest gainers are Iceland (+35.8%), Norway and Croatia (both +24.7%) and Greece (+24.6%), while the biggest losers are Lithuania (-22%), Belgium (-11.2%), Germany and Netherlands (-9.2%).
Car models (hatchback, sedan, stationwagon, coupe and convertible) were outsold by crossovers for the first time ever in December but stay ahead for the full year. Howerver, they continue to lose market share at -7.3% and their market share drops below 50% for the first time ever at 49.9%. Crossovers and SUVs outperform at +9.5% and set a new record market share at 46.1%, almost double the share of just six years earlier in 2015. It’s just a matter of time until crossovers will outsell cars in Europe as well, especially now that a growing number of brands is offering crossover EVs. MPV sales continue to decline at -30.8% to 4% share, less than a third of their share in 2014. Plug-in vehicles (EVs and PHEVs) reached new highs, with PHEVs up 68% to top 1 million sales and BEVs up 63% to top 1.2 million, for a combined share of 19.1%, up from 11.3% in 2020.
2021 Manufacturers
Volkswagen Group drops below3 million deliveries for the first time since 2004, with sales down 2.7% which means its market share is down by 0.2 percentage points to 25.2%. Stellantis gains 0.1 percentage points to 20.4% while Renault-Nissan is down 11.8% and loses 1.4 percentage points of market share to 12.1%. Best performing manufacturer in the top-10 is Hyundai-Kia as they had a steady supply of semiconductors during the year, allowing them to leapfrog BMW AG for 4th place with sales up 17.1%. This means they gain 1.4 percentage points of market share to a record 8.4%. Toyota Motor also excels in 2021 with sales up 6.5% to jump both Daimler AG and Ford Motor Company to become a top-6 manufacturer in Europe and gaining half a percentage point of market share. Daimler (to be renamed Mercedes-Benz Group in 2022) is down 12.8% and loses 0.7 percentage points of share, while Ford is the worst performing manufacturer at -18.6%, losing one percentage point of share to a new record low in Europe.
Geely Group is up 7.5%, Suzuki is up 11.2% but Tesla Motors continuest to set new records with sales up 73% to nearly 170,000 deliveries at 1.4% market share. Mazda also improves at +4.7%, but Tata Motors and Honda lose more than 10%. SAIC continues to break records in Europe, more than doubling its sales to over 54,000 as it expands into new markets and grows its line-up. Subaru Corporation is up 6.4% after losing a lot of volume in previous years.
| Group | 2021 | 2020 | change | 2021 share | 2020 share | 2020 rank | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Group | 2.949.898 | 3.031.511 | -2,7% | 25,2% | 25,4% | 1 |
| 2 | Stellantis | 2.386.382 | 2.418.153 | -1,3% | 20,4% | 20,3% | 2 |
| 3 | Renault-Nissan | 1.419.061 | 1.609.763 | -11,8% | 12,1% | 13,5% | 3 |
| 4 | Hyundai-Kia | 982.102 | 838.711 | 17,1% | 8,4% | 7,0% | 5 |
| 5 | BMW AG | 842.608 | 847.117 | -0,5% | 7,2% | 7,1% | 4 |
| 6 | Toyota Motor | 733.415 | 688.899 | 6,5% | 6,3% | 5,8% | 8 |
| 7 | Daimler AG | 676.744 | 776.515 | -12,8% | 5,8% | 6,5% | 6 |
| 8 | Ford Motor Comp. | 569.537 | 699.636 | -18,6% | 4,9% | 5,9% | 7 |
| 9 | Geely Group | 322.163 | 299.797 | 7,5% | 2,8% | 2,5% | 9 |
| 10 | Suzuki | 190.904 | 171.677 | 11,2% | 1,6% | 1,4% | 10 |
| 11 | Tesla Motors | 169.507 | 97.957 | 73,0% | 1,4% | 0,8% | 13 |
| 12 | Mazda | 156.821 | 149.794 | 4,7% | 1,3% | 1,3% | 12 |
| 13 | Tata Motors | 140.550 | 160.553 | -12,5% | 1,2% | 1,3% | 11 |
| 14 | Honda | 73.038 | 81.319 | -10,2% | 0,6% | 0,7% | 14 |
| 15 | SAIC | 54.393 | 25.199 | 115,9% | 0,5% | 0,2% | 15 |
| 16 | Subaru Corp. | 20.475 | 19.244 | 6,4% | 0,2% | 0,2% | 16 |
| 17 | Mahindra & Mahindra | 10.626 | 10.866 | -2,2% | 0,1% | 0,1% | 17 |
| 18 | Aston Martin | 1.979 | 1.638 | 20,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 18 |
| 19 | General Motors | 1.185 | 375 | 216,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 19 |
2021 Brands
In the brands ranking, VW is down 5.1% to keep the top spot despite its lowest annual sales since 1993 and its lowest market share since 2008, while Renault drops from #2 in 2020 to 4th in 2021 with a 16.2% drop in sales, leading to new record lows in sales and market share. Renault falls behind Peugeot and Toyota which both set new ranking records, even though Peugeot hits a new record low in sales. Toyota sets a new makret share record at 5.8% BMW is back above Mercedes-Benz thanks to almost stable sales as Mercedes loses 14.4%. Thanks to its strong year, BMW hits a new market share record at 5.7%. Audi is down 1.7% in 8th place behind sister brand Skoda. Ford drops from 5th to 9th with an 18.6% decline in sales to new record lows in sales and market share, while Hyundai jumps 4 places into the top-10 with a gain of 19.1%. This means Hyundai sets a new record for market share at 4.3% but not an annual sales record as it sold over half a million cars in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Sister brand Kia does the same with sales up 14.9%, passing Fiat (new record low sales) and Citroën while closing in on Opel/Vauxhall. All three of these Stellantis brands are pretty stable on 2020. So is Dacia at #15, distancing Seat which is down 6.8%. However, when combining Seat with its sister brand Cupra, the Spanish brands hit a new market share record at 3.4%. Volvo is also pretty stable and hits a new market share record as well, distancing Nissan which is down 10.1% to new record low sales and its lowest market share since 2007.
Tesla jumps 4 places to #21 with record sales and market share, and manages to become Europe’s best selling EV brand, just ahead of VW. Jeep is up 5.8% to hit a new market share record in Europe and stay ahead of Land Rover (-8%), while Porsche is just 3,100 sales off its annual record set in 2019. Cupra sets a new annual sales record by almost quadrupling its sales of last year and manages to outsell Alfa Romeo and Lancia combined. Honda is down 10.2% to move ahead of Mitsubishi which loses a third of its sales. Both Japanese brands hit new record lows in sales and market share. DS is stable on last year to outsell Lancia (+1.8%) and Jaguar (-22.7%), while Smart is up 31.1% (but still down to just over a third of its 2019 sales) to pass Alfa Romeo (-27.3% to new record lows in sales and market share). The Italian brand is now challenged by Polestar which sets a new annual sales record at #36, just ahead of sister brand Lynk & Co landing at #39. Alpine recovers from a slow 2020 with sales up 80.7% but it’s still at just over half of its peak of 2019. Genesis lands at #56 with 552 deliveries.
Chinese brands improve their market share to 0.6%, as MG sets new annual sales and market share records at #29, ahead of Lynk & Co at #39, while DR Motor also sets a new annual sales record thanks to sales more than doubling at #40, BYD lands at #48, Aiways improves 52.8% but remains a niche player at #51 and so do the others that follow: Haval doubles up at #52, Xpeng is up to #58, Maxus at #60, Nio lands at #61 and Seres lands at #62. JAC is up to #64 and Hongqi lands at #67 with its first 25 deliveries. Of these, BYD, Nio and Hongqi are for now only available in Norway, but all have plans to expand their operations to other markets in Europe quickly.
| Brand | 2021 | 2020 | change | 2021 share | 2020 share | 2020 rank | |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 1.273.114 | 1.341.849 | -5,1% | 10,9% | 11,2% | 1 |
| 2 | Peugeot | 728.917 | 753.429 | -3,3% | 6,2% | 6,3% | 3 |
| 3 | Toyota | 687.160 | 641.814 | 7,1% | 5,9% | 5,4% | 7 |
| 4 | Renault | 684.548 | 817.116 | -16,2% | 5,8% | 6,8% | 2 |
| 5 | BMW | 669.534 | 673.724 | -0,6% | 5,7% | 5,6% | 6 |
| 6 | Mercedes-Benz | 641.052 | 749.297 | -14,4% | 5,5% | 6,3% | 4 |
| 7 | Skoda | 599.970 | 634.895 | -5,5% | 5,1% | 5,3% | 8 |
| 8 | Audi | 591.457 | 601.882 | -1,7% | 5,0% | 5,0% | 9 |
| 9 | Ford | 569.534 | 699.631 | -18,6% | 4,9% | 5,9% | 5 |
| 10 | Hyundai | 498.572 | 418.536 | 19,1% | 4,3% | 3,5% | 14 |
| 11 | Opel/Vauxhall | 489.382 | 486.910 | 0,5% | 4,2% | 4,1% | 10 |
| 12 | Kia | 482.978 | 420.175 | 14,9% | 4,1% | 3,5% | 13 |
| 13 | Fiat | 467.940 | 475.041 | -1,5% | 4,0% | 4,0% | 11 |
| 14 | Citroën | 453.480 | 449.807 | 0,8% | 3,9% | 3,8% | 12 |
| 15 | Dacia | 403.541 | 398.694 | 1,2% | 3,4% | 3,3% | 15 |
| 16 | Seat | 330.994 | 354.982 | -6,8% | 2,8% | 3,0% | 16 |
| 17 | Volvo | 292.588 | 290.280 | 0,8% | 2,5% | 2,4% | 17 |
| 18 | Nissan | 259.256 | 288.334 | -10,1% | 2,2% | 2,4% | 18 |
| 19 | Suzuki | 190.904 | 171.677 | 11,2% | 1,6% | 1,4% | 20 |
| 20 | Mini | 172.461 | 172.798 | -0,2% | 1,5% | 1,4% | 19 |
| 21 | Tesla | 169.507 | 97.957 | 73,0% | 1,4% | 0,8% | 25 |
| 22 | Mazda | 156.821 | 149.794 | 4,7% | 1,3% | 1,3% | 21 |
| 23 | Jeep | 127.450 | 120.489 | 5,8% | 1,1% | 1,0% | 22 |
| 24 | Land Rover | 102.982 | 111.982 | -8,0% | 0,9% | 0,9% | 23 |
| 25 | Porsche | 74.973 | 73.840 | 1,5% | 0,6% | 0,6% | 27 |
| 26 | Cupra | 73.177 | 18.525 | 295,0% | 0,6% | 0,2% | 36 |
| 27 | Honda | 73.038 | 81.319 | -10,2% | 0,6% | 0,7% | 26 |
| 28 | Mitsubishi | 67.765 | 101.824 | -33,4% | 0,6% | 0,9% | 24 |
| 29 | SAIC MG | 54.000 | 25.199 | 114,3% | 0,5% | 0,2% | 34 |
| 30 | Lexus | 46.255 | 47.085 | -1,8% | 0,4% | 0,4% | 29 |
| 31 | DS | 43.970 | 43.597 | 0,9% | 0,4% | 0,4% | 30 |
| 32 | Lancia | 43.870 | 43.077 | 1,8% | 0,4% | 0,4% | 31 |
| 33 | Jaguar | 37.568 | 48.571 | -22,7% | 0,3% | 0,4% | 28 |
| 34 | Smart | 35.692 | 27.218 | 31,1% | 0,3% | 0,2% | 33 |
| 35 | Alfa Romeo | 25.964 | 35.718 | -27,3% | 0,2% | 0,3% | 32 |
| 36 | Polestar | 21.010 | 8.821 | 138,2% | 0,2% | 0,1% | 38 |
| 37 | Subaru | 20.475 | 19.244 | 6,4% | 0,2% | 0,2% | 35 |
| 38 | SSangYong | 9.626 | 9.555 | 0,7% | 0,1% | 0,1% | 37 |
| 39 | Lynk & Co | 7.916 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% | |
| 40 | DR Motor | 7.570 | 3.404 | 122,4% | 0,1% | 0,0% | 41 |
| 41 | Ferrari | 5.458 | 4.271 | 27,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 39 |
| 42 | Maserati | 4.277 | 3.435 | 24,5% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 40 |
| 43 | Bentley | 2.908 | 2.999 | -3,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 42 |
| 44 | Alpine | 2.427 | 1.343 | 80,7% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 46 |
| 45 | Lamborghini | 2.235 | 1.996 | 12,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 44 |
| 46 | Aston Martin | 1.979 | 1.638 | 20,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 45 |
| 47 | Lada | 1.513 | 2.126 | -28,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 43 |
| 48 | BYD | 1.068 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | |
| 49 | Dodge | 1.027 | 1.174 | -12,5% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 48 |
| 50 | Mahindra | 1.000 | 1.311 | -23,7% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 47 |
| 51 | Aiways | 946 | 619 | 52,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 49 |
| 52 | Haval | 749 | 370 | 102,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 52 |
| 53 | Chevrolet | 656 | 235 | 179,1% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 55 |
| 54 | Lotus | 640 | 604 | 6,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 50 |
| 55 | Rolls Royce | 613 | 595 | 3,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 51 |
| 56 | Genesis | 552 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | |
| 57 | Cadillac | 513 | 130 | 294,6% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 56 |
| 58 | Xpeng | 486 | 86 | 465,1% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 60 |
| 59 | Morgan | 415 | 342 | 21,3% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 53 |
| 60 | Maxus | 393 | 77 | 410,4% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 61 |
| 61 | Nio | 200 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | |
| 62 | Seres | 131 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | |
| 63 | Caterham Super 7 | 130 | 105 | 23,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 57 |
| 64 | JAC | 127 | 7 | 1714,3% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 63 |
| 65 | Chrysler | 94 | 89 | 5,6% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 59 |
| 66 | Bugatti | 26 | 19 | 36,8% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 62 |
| 67 | Hongqi | 25 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | |
| 68 | Infiniti | 11 | 326 | -96,6% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 54 |
| 69 | Geely | 9 | 92 | -90,2% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 58 |
European car sales statistics are from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom. They exclude vehicles registered as commercial vehicles. Source: ANDC, JATO Dynamics