European Sales Down 12.3% in April but Fiat Group and Hyundai Manage to Sell More Cars

Despite the fact that the new passenger car market declined for the twelfth consecutive month in Europe, totaling 1,251,862 units in April, or 12.3% less than in the same month a year ago, Hyundai and the Fiat Group that consists of the Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia brands managed to buck the downward trend posting 9.7% and 4.7% sales gains respectively. Overall, the Fiat Group sold 121,671 cars in April while Hyundai, 27,454 units. With the exception of Skoda (+0,4%), Chevrolet (+4.5), Dacia (+60,4%), all the other brands recorded declines in the month of April.

Europe’s largest automaker, the VW Group was down 4.2% to 284,607 units, while Daimler (Mercedes-Benz and Smart) and the BMW Group saw their sales tumble by 26.3% and 31.2% respectively.

The French PSA Peugeot Citroen Group posted a 14.7% drop, Toyota recorded a 22.4% decline, Renault a 14.0% decrease while GM and Ford posted a drop of 13.1% and 6.3% respectively.