The European car sales figures paint a sad picture. Almost every brand records a sharp drop in sales, but Hyundai, Kia and DS are swimming against the tide.
September sales figures hit hard. Volkswagen, still the European number 1, had to do with no less than 29.7 percent less in Europe (EU + EFTA countries + UK) in the past month. Stellantis records a similar decline at 30.4 percent, Renault sold 24.2 percent less, BMW 24.2, Toyota 18 and Daimler, as the parent company of Mercedes is still called, no less than 48.1 percent less. The main reason: the chip shortage, which has plagued all car manufacturers worldwide for months and is firmly nipping the growth expected after corona in the bud.
we scan the whole list of the ACEA on pluses, it is noticeable that only three pluses can be noted of the brands with any sales volume. The first is DS, the fresh premium brand that, with a plus of 9.2 percent and 3,789 cars sold, can do little to counter the decline of its group peers at Stellantis.
This means that there is only one car maker that is in the plus as a whole: Hyundai. The Koreans apparently know how to circumvent the chip shortage better than the competition and record a growth of 6.9 percent as a whole. Hyundai itself was 5.7 percent ahead, Kia 8.1 percent. In a market full of decliners, this automatically means a significantly larger market share: Hyundai now records 5.4 percent and Kia 5.8. As a whole, the Hyundai Group now accounts for 11.1 percent of the European market, up from 7.8 percent in September last year.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl