EU True Fleets up 12% in April
True Fleet sales were up 12.1% in April across Europe’s Big Five markets. The latest in a string of excellent sales months has resulted in the highest year-to-date volume in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, figures released by Dataforce reveal.
France: +10.2%
The French fleet market has witnessed nine consecutive months of growth. The cumulative growth rate for the first four months of 2016 is 13.3% for the fleet market, more than double the rate for the private market (+5.2%). The French brands (Renault on #1, Peugeot, Citroën and DS on #16) all boosted their fleet registrations compared to April 2015. BMW (#5) and Kia (#13) did very well, thanks to the new X1 and 2 Series Active Tourer/Grand Tourer (for BMW) and the Sportage (for Kia). Model-wise, the French brands dominated the Top 10. The VW Golf was the only non-French model, on #9.
Germany: +11.8%
April was the second double-digit growth month for True Fleets in Germany, growing almost twice as fast as the private market (+6.1%). The entire True Fleet Top 10 remained unchanged, with VW in the lead (followed by Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Ford and Skoda – the Czech brand scoring a remarkable +30% over last April, thanks to the Octavia but especially the Superb (+109.7%). Hyundai (#11) and Volvo (#13) grew by +42.6% and +30.2% respectively. Audi’s all-new A4 improved most in total volume, to third place in the model ranking after the VWs Passat and Golf.
Italy: +22.2%
Compared to April 2015, True Fleet registrations in Italy were up by a record 22.2% - also scoring a record for highest ever recorded April volume, and for year-to-date volume for January through April. In line with market buoyancy, all Top 10 brands increased their sales volume, none more so than Nissan (#7, +57.8%) and BMW (#5, +43.4%). With a total volume of 5.1% in True Fleet sales, Nissan even scored its best result ever in Italy – mainly thanks to excellent Qashqai (pictured) and X-Trail sales.
Spain: +15.8%
With year-to-date growth of 15.1%, the Spanish True Fleet market is in good shape. No fewer than 15 out of the top 20 brands were able to increase their True Fleet sales volume in April. Market leader VW’s share (9.2%) is only slightly ahead of Renault’s (9%), which outranks Peugeot and Seat, and Mercedes and BMW, almost ex aequo on #6 and #7. SUVs did very well, but so did the small car segment, up 14.9%. The Renault Clio even headed the overall model ranking in April, with the Seat Ibiza and Peugeot 208 also in the model Top 10.
UK: +8.4%
Even in the UK, the upswing continues – after a flat January, a better February (+4.8%) and an even better March (+6.5%). At the same time, April sales to private customers fell by 2.5%. The Top 4 fleet brands remained unchanged: Opel/Vauxhall on #1, followed by Ford, VW and Nissan. Mercedes (#5) and BMW (#7) performed strongly, growing 23.7% and 28.9% respectively. Land Rover (#15) increased by an impressive 80.4%, reaching its highest True Fleet ranking so far.
Image: NaBUru38, CC BY-SA 4.0
