VW shoots up, STLA/Jeep falls in Europe

Volkswagen sales shot up by 40% over the last month, from 165,820 in 2021 to 232,024 in 2022, giving the company a 25.5% market share—up from 20.8%.

Meanwhile, Stellantis sales dropped by 1.8%, from 165,967 to 163,012, falling across its top three major brands—Peugeot, Opel, and Fiat. Citroën, which rose by 2.5%, was within 150 sales of Fiat. Peugeot dropped by 6%, Opel/Vauxhall by 4%, and Fiat by 8%.

Jeep dropped by 4%, from 7,895 to 7,557 sales. The other premium brands—DS, Lancia, and Alfa Romeo—all rose, by 37%, 22%, and 84%, respectively. the top seller of these three, though, was DS with 4,331 sales. Alfa had 3,421.

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Hyundai dropped even more (5%), while Renault rose by 2%. Toyota, with a 7.5% market share, rose by 42%; BMW rose by 6%; Mercedes fell by 3%; and Ford rose by 37%. No other brand had a market share over 2.5%.

Year to date, Volkswagen’s share is still below its 2021 number of 25.6%; the company lost 11% in sales, with all brands but Porsche and luxury-exotics falling. Stellantis is down by 15%, year-to-date, with market share falling from 20.4% to 18.8%. Every Stellantis brand but DS and Alfa Romeo fell, with Jeep taking the worst hit (down 26%), followed by Fiat (down 20%). The company’s lead brand, Peugeot, dropped by 14%.

Also looking year to date, Hyundai made greater inroads, rising by 5%, while Renault dropped by about the same amount; Toyota rose a little (2%) while BMW, Mercedes, and Ford all fell (9%, 6%, and 5%, respectively).

Much of the variation in sales is due to production shortfalls, rather than customer preferences.

David Zatz

David Zatz started what was to become the world’s biggest, most comprehensive Mopar site in 1994 as he pursued a career in organizational research and change. After a chemo-induced break, during which he wrote car books covering Vipers, minivans, and Jeeps, he returned with Patrick Rall to create StellPower.com for daily news, and to set up MoTales for mo’ tales.

David Zatz has around 30 years of experience in covering Chrysler/Mopar news and history, and most recently wrote Century of Chrysler, a 100-year retrospective on the Chrysler marque.