The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) reported Friday that new vehicle registrations in the European Union rose 6% in March, compared with new registrations in March of 2015. New registrations for the month totaled 1.7 million units. For the month the United Kingdom led with 518,707 new registrations, followed by Germany with 322,913 and France with 211,254.
For the first quarter, total sales for the 27 EU members came to 3.82 million, up 8.2% compared with the first quarter of last year. Germany posted a first-quarter total of 791,424, while registrations in the United Kingdom totaled 771,780 and new registrations in Italy rose to 519,123.
New car registrations have now posted year-over-year monthly increases for 31 consecutive months. Among the 27 members of the EU, consumers purchased 13.71 million new vehicles in 2015, up 9.3% year over year.
The top-selling maker in the European Union is Volkswagen, which sold 377,945 vehicles in March, up 2.6% year over year. VW’s market share for the month totaled 22.2%, down from 23.9% in February 2016 and down from 23% in March 2015.
PSA Group, makers of Peugeot and Citroen among other brands, was the second-leading company in terms of market share for March with 9.8% of the EU market. Renault Group, with 9.2% of the market, was third.
Of the Detroit Three, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) sold 134,381 units in March, up 0.8% year over year. The company’s March 2016 market share came to 7.9%, down from 8.3% in March 2015. Ford sold 281,713 units in the first quarter of the year, earning 7.4% of the market and flat with the first quarter of 2015.
Opel Group, the General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) subsidiary in Europe, also posted a March market share of 7.3%, flat with March of last year. Sales of the Opel/Vauxhall brands rose 6.4% year over year. In the quarter, Opel Group raised its share from 6.8% a year ago to 6.9%.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) increased its March market share in the EU from 6.0% to 6.4% year over year, led by a 16.7 increase in sales of the company’s Lancia/Chrysler brand. FCA posted new registrations totaling 261,317 for the first quarter and grew its year-over-year market share from 6.3% to 6.8%.
BMW Group’s market share in March rose from 6.3% last year to 6.9%, and the company sold 116,788 units last month. For the quarter, BMW’s market share rose from 6.2% a year ago to 6.4% on sales of 244,286 units.
Daimler also posted a market share gain, rising from 5.5% in March 2015 to 5.8% last month. For the quarter, the Mercedes-Benz maker posted a year-over-year share gain of 0.3 points.
Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) posted a market share of 4.3% in March, flat with last year. For the first quarter, the carmaker’s market share dipped from 4.5% a year ago to 4.3%.
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