The European market (30 countries) declined by 1% in January-February 2026
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The European market (30 countries) declined by 1% in January-February 2026
- The European market (30 countries = EU + United Kingdom + Switzerland + Norway) for passenger cars declined by 1.0% over the two months to date in 2026 compared to the two months to date in 2025 , to 1,938,121 units compared to 1,958,331.
- By country, we note that only a dozen European countries saw their sales increase over the period, and these are mainly low volume countries, such as the Baltic countries, Malta or Croatia, but we observe the presence of three high volume countries, namely the United Kingdom (+4.8%), Italy (+10.1%) and Spain (+4.6%).
- Unfortunately, these countries do not compensate for the decline in sales in high-volume countries such as France (-11.1%) or Germany (-1.4%) and medium-volume countries such as Belgium (-13.2%) or the Netherlands (-16.7%).
- Furthermore, the collapse of the Norwegian market (-48.1%), the European market with the largest share of battery electric vehicles in Europe, is noteworthy. This is due to a VAT increase on electric vehicles scheduled for January 1, 2026, but announced as early as October 15, 2025. Consequently, there was anticipation of vehicle purchases before the VAT increase, resulting in a sharp drop in sales during the first two months of 2026. This situation is expected to stabilize in the coming months.
- Despite this collapse in the Norwegian market, the market share of BEVs in Europe continued to increase, representing 19.6% of sales in 2 months 2026 compared to 16.9% in 2 months 2025 , a gain of more than two and a half points.
- By carmaker, with the exception of Chinese carmakers, only two non-Chinese carmakers saw their sales increase: Stellantis (+8.2%) after a very poor 2025 and Tesla (+0.9%) , which managed to halt its decline that began last year. Among Chinese carmakers with significant volumes, SAIC saw slight growth (+4.8%), followed by Chery (+223%), BYD (+159%), Leapmotor (+605%), Geely (+42%), and Xpeng (+99%).
The Suzuki Group sold 3.3 million vehicles in 2025
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The Suzuki Group sold 3.3 million vehicles in 2025
- The Suzuki Group (Suzuki, Maruti) sold 3.3 million vehicles (passenger cars + light utility vehicles) in 2025 compared to 3.25 million in 2024, representing a small increase of 1.5%.
- The carmaker, which uses the Maruti name in India and the Suzuki name in the rest of the world, retains its tenth place even though the Geely group overtook it last year. Conversely, the Suzuki group overtook the Nissan group, thus ousting it from the Top 10, with the former making modest progress and the latter declining quite sharply.
- Despite the absence of battery electric vehicles in its lineup last year (the first, the e- Vitara, developed in partnership with Toyota, was launched in early 2026) and despite its absence from the US and Chinese markets (the world's two largest markets) due to its smaller models, Suzuki has been making steady progress since 2020 and is now closing in on the Honda group. Suzuki has a strong presence in the rapidly developing Southeast Asian markets.
- But the carmaker is particularly benefiting from the strong growth of the Indian market observed since 2020, where it holds a dominant position (nearly 40% of the market). By 2025, the Indian market was projected to represent 56% of Suzuki's global sales, more than its historical market, Japan (22% of its total sales).
- The collaboration with Toyota continues and Suzuki could leverage its position as a carmaker of A and B segment cars to meet the demand for this type of model, the supply of which is tending to decline in Europe, for example.
Geely group sold 3.9 million vehicles in 2025
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Geely group sold 3.9 million vehicles in 2025
- The Chinese group Geely , which encompasses numerous brands (almost as many as Stellantis), including Geely, Emgrand, Galaxy, Geometry, Jiyue, Livan, LEVC, Lynk&Co, Maple, Polestar, Volvo, and Zeekr, and which owns 50% of Smart, sold 3.9 million vehicles worldwide in 2025, compared to 3.16 million in 2024. This represents a 23% increase, significantly higher than the growth recorded by BYD last year. Geely will thus become the world's eighth-largest carmaker in 2025, ahead of Honda and Suzuki and neck and neck with the Ford group.
- These figures do not include sales figures for Smart (50% owned by Mercedes) or those of the Malaysian brand Proton, 49.9% owned by Geely . Adding these two brands, the Geely group would have sold 4.1 million vehicles worldwide last year and would be the seventh largest carmaker in the world by 2025, not the eighth as we stated here.
- Although its Swedish subsidiary Volvo has a presence all over the world, the Geely group mainly sells vehicles from its many brands in the Chinese market, which represents 79% of its global sales.
- The remainder (21%) is mainly sold in Europe (333,000 sales in 2025), Russia (180,000 sales) and the United States (130,000 sales), three markets which together represent 16.5% of the Geely group's global sales, if we disregard Smart and Proton.
- Geely Group sold 1,454,105 BEVs and 792,247 PHEVs worldwide by 2025, representing 37% BEVs and 20% PHEVs. Last year, the carmaker sold 57% alternative powertrain vehicles, placing it among the most committed carmakers in the electrification of its products.
The Honda Group sold 3.4 million vehicles in 2025
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The Honda Group sold 3.4 million vehicles in 2025
- The Honda Group (Honda, Acura) sold 3.4 million vehicles (passenger cars and light utility vehicles) in 2025, compared to 3.8 million in 2024, representing a 9% year-over-year decrease. This sales decline in 2025 (the largest among the top 10) is primarily due to the drop in sales in China, where Honda saw its registrations fall by 24.6%, to 678,000 units compared to 898,000 in 2024, 1,245,000 in 2023, 1,403,000 in 2022, 1,542,000 in 2021, and 1,656,000 in 2020. The Japanese carmaker has lost one million sales in China over the past five years, on an annual basis, which is significant.
- But Honda is also experiencing difficulties in its own historic market, Japan, with a 7.3% drop in sales, and also in Europe (-3.8%) where Honda has closed its two assembly plants.
- Only the USA stands out, Honda's largest market, where the Japanese carmaker has managed to stabilize its sales at a low level, at 1.4 million units in 2025, after having sold 1.6 million per year between 2015 and 2019.
- The carmaker Honda has therefore lost a lot of influence in the automotive sector since 2018-2019, a period during which it sold more than 5 million vehicles per year, and is only producing 3.4 million in 2025. Honda has not been able to capitalize like Toyota on the hybrid engines it launched in the 2000s and hesitated for a long time to take the path of electric vehicles.
The Ford group sold 4 million vehicles in 2025
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The Ford group sold 4 million vehicles in 2025
- The Ford Motor Company (Ford, Lincoln) sold 4.035 million vehicles (passenger cars and light utility vehicles) worldwide in 2025, compared to 4.065 million in 2024, a decrease of 0.7%. The American carmaker ranks seventh globally, behind BYD and ahead of Honda, neck and neck with the Chinese carmaker Geely, owner of Volvo. It's worth noting that the Ford Motor Company was the world's second-largest carmaker for several decades, after GM. It's also worth remembering that the Ford Motor Company once owned Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Aston Martin, and that it sold all of these brands, in addition to the discontinuation in 2011 of the American brand Mercury, a subsidiary of the group since 1939. Today, the Ford Motor Company is represented only by the Ford brand, as the Lincoln brand has become quite niche (145,000 sales in 2025, representing 3.5% of total Ford Motor Company sales).
- Ford is primarily focused on its traditional market, the USA (which accounts for more than half of its global sales), having abandoned the Russian, Indian, and South American markets. Ford appeared to be gradually withdrawing from the European market (discontinuing the Fiesta, Focus, and Mondeo), except for commercial vehicles (the entire Transit range), which represent more than 500,000 sales annually. However, new agreements with Renault suggest that Ford has no intention of abandoning the European passenger car market anytime soon. In China, its position is not really robust, and its presence in this market could be called into question within a few years.
- The Ford group sold 203,000 BEVs in 2025 (5% of its total sales), compared to 151,000 in 2024.
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