Dacia’s EU sales advanced 38.9% to 28,100 units in January, from 20,200 in the same period in 2013, and its market share climbed to 3% from 2.3%.
Dacia’s owner Renault saw a 13.4% increase in EU sales in January to 86,500 units, reaching a 9.2% market share, from 8.6% in January 2013. Renault kept its third spot among carmakers in Europe, but witnessed the highest increase among the top five carmakers, in terms of volume.
New car registrations in the EU rose 5.5% on the year in January, to 935,600 units, as the market slowed down after a 13% increase in December 2013.
German giant and top European carmaker Volkswagen saw an 8.9% advance in EU sales to 237,500 units in the first month of 2014. Skoda, owned by Volkswagen, sold 41,100 cars in the EU in January, up 10.9% on the year, while PSA Peugeot Citroen, the largest French carmaker, posted a 7.4% year-on-year increase to 109,300 units.
Ford, which owns a carmaking plant in Craiova, Romania, saw a 9.5% rise in EU sales on the year to 65,900 units in January, while U.S. group General Motors, owner of Opel and Chevrolet, reported a 5.3% decline to 64.700 units.
Italy’s Fiat registered a 2.1% decrease in EU sales to 58,600 units in the mentioned interval, while Japanese carmaker Toyota posted a 16.8% rise in sales in Europe to 44,300 units. Renault’s alliance partner Nissan sold 31,500 cars in Europe in January, down 4.8% on the year.
Audi, Volkswagen’s premium make, posted a 9.5% increase in EU sales, to 52,700 cars, while BMW, which also owns the Mini brand, posted a 0.5% rise, to 55,300 cars sold. German group Daimler, owner of Mercedes-Benz and Smart, posted a 0.6% decrease in EU sales, to 48,900 cars, generated exclusively by the Smart brand, while the Mercedes brand inched up 0.7%.
New car registrations in Romania rose 15.4% on the year to nearly 5,100 units in January, similar with the increase registered by Greece, where new car registrations reached around 6,400 units in the first month of 2014.
EU’s biggest growth was registered by Ireland (32.8% increase to 22,900 units), Portugal (31.8% rise to 9,250 cars), Croatia (29.4% advance to 2,350 units) and Slovakia (24.8% increase to 5,450 cars).
The German car market saw a 7.2% increase in January, to 206,000 new car registrations, Great Britain boasts an advance of 7.6% to 154,500 units, while France witnessed a 0.5% rise to 125,450 cars sold.