The compact hatchback Peugeot 208 was the best-selling car in Europe in 2022 (specifically the EU countries + Great Britain, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland). The B-segment car dominated the European market and dethroned the Volkswagen Golf after 14 long years. But what is the cause of this? Is the automotive market, or perhaps the entire automotive industry, changing? Or maybe people started to save more? Actually, a little bit of each…
The driving engine of the economy, as the automotive industry is sometimes called, has been experiencing rough times in recent years, and analysts from the British company JATO Dynamics confirm what we all suspected.
“The onset of the pandemic followed by chip shortages in 2021 and 2022 had a big impact in themselves,” admits JATO Dynamics analyst Felipe Munoz. “As if that wasn’t enough, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the related energy crisis also greatly affected the purchasing power of customers.”
The global number one, the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota, has also done very well on the European market. It sold 776,227 cars in Europe last year, placing it in 2nd place overall
“The shortage of stock cars, inflation and the energy crisis are the most common challenges facing the automotive industry right now,” says Munoz. It affects every manufacturer, but some handle the situation better, others worse. In general, however, the automotive industry is currently showing a decline in production and at the same time a slight decline in sales.
In Europe, new car registrations fell to 11,309,310, a decrease of 4.1% compared to 2021. For those interested in the comparison with the time before covid, the JATO company states that the difference between 2019 and 2022 is an abysmal -29%, which means approximately 4.5 million missing cars.
After a very long time, the VW Golf did not take first place, the brand’s best-selling model in Europe this time was the T-Roc
The consequence of these changes is that, after 14 long years, the Golf was deposed from the European throne of the best-selling car. Volkswagen generally has problems with production outages and there are very long queues for the Golf. That’s probably why the SUV T-Roc jumped to a great third place.
In addition to the T-Roc, the Peugeot 208 and Dacia Sandero profited from the Golf’s troubles, the Fiat 500 also squeezed into the top five.
10 best selling cars in Europe
| Location | Name of the car | Sold pieces | Interannual status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Peugeot 208 | 206 816 | +5 % |
| 2. | Dacia Sandero | 200 550 | +1 % |
| 3. | VW T-Roc | 181 153 | –3 % |
| 4. | Fiat 500/ Abarth 500 | 179 863 | + 3 % |
| 5. | VW Golf | 177 203 | –14 % |
| 6. | Toyota Yaris | 175 713 | –4 % |
| 7. | Opel Corsa | 164 358 | –9 % |
| 8. | Hyundai Tucson | 150 803 | +1 % |
| 9. | Dacia Duster | 149 648 | +2 % |
| 10. | Renault Clio | 143 561 | –27 % |
In terms of manufacturers, however, the Volkswagen brand managed to maintain first place with a score of 1.2 million cars sold in Europe, which represents an almost seven percent decrease compared to 2021. Second place was taken by Toyota (776,227 cars), which is currently the world’s number one, and has deteriorated by 8 percent year-on-year in Europe. Surprisingly, BMW took third place (646,000), which surpassed not only its premium rivals (Mercedes-Benz 634,000, Audi 614,000), but also all other mainstream brands.
Chinese brands are enjoying increasing popularity, MG sales increased by 116 percent last year! Škoda Octavia has been missing from the top ten best sellers for a long time
Last but not least, the JATO Dynamics analysis points to the growing popularity of Chinese cars. Over 152,000 were sold in Europe last year, which is more than double the sales for 2021 (66,000). At the same time, 114 thousand of them belong to the MG brand, which improved year-on-year by a full 116%.
“The entry of Chinese manufacturers into the European market is aided by lenient procurement costs combined with increasing quality,” explains Munoz. “However, they are far from won, they will have to deal with the lingering unflattering reputation that can still turn off a large number of potential customers today.”
