Biggest takeaways from Europe's July sales

BMW and Mercedes-Benz gained ground on rivals in July; Audi, Renault and Tesla suffered sales declines; China's MG and BYD became one of Europe's top 20 and top 30 sellers, respectively; and there were nearly as many sales losers as sales winners in a month when overall volume increased less than 0.4 percent.

Those were some of the key takeaways from the July figures from market researcher Dataforce.

BMW's 13 percent sales increase to 63,622 boosted it to No. 3 overall in July from No. 5 during the same month last year, pushing it ahead of Audi and Skoda, according to Dataforce's figures, which include sales in the European Union, the EFTA countries and the U.K.

BMW was helped by sales increases of 30 percent to 4,453 for the full-electric iX1 premium compact SUV and a 17 percent gain to 3,991 for the i4 midsize premium sedan.

Mercedes' 12 percent sales increase to 59,573 boosted it to No. 5 overall in July from No. 6 during the same month last year, also moving it ahead of Audi, according to Dataforce.

Mercedes benefited from strong demand for its SUV lineup. Sales of the GLC premium midsize SUV rose 46 percent to 9,026 while the GLA premium compact crossover's volume grew 20 percent to 5,306.

The GLC ranked second in its segment while the GLA was No. 3 in its class, according to figures from Dataforce.

Another automaker gaining ground was Volvo. Its July sales increased 42 percent to 30,228, boosting it to No. 14 overall from No. 18 in July 2023, topping Fiat and Nissan.

Volvo's success is underpinned by strong sales of the EX30 full-electric small SUV, which added 7,306 units to the automaker's figures last month, according to Dataforce.

Struggled in July

Audi fell to sixth place from No. 3 in July 2023 after sales decreased 2.5 percent to 59,289. A big reason for the slump was a 21 percent decline in sales of the compact premium A3.

Renault slipped to ninth place from No. 7 in July 2023 because of an 8.3 percent sales decline to 48,598, Dataforce's figures show. Renault was stung by a 74 percent dip in sales of the Megane and a 31 percent decrease in sales of the full-electric Megane E-Tech.

Tesla slipped to 22nd overall from 20th in July 2023 after sales fell 16 percent to 15,298, according to Dataforce.

Sales of the Model Y and Model 3 fell 16 percent and 15 percent, respectively, last month.

China's BYD once again made one of the biggest leaps in the month, rising to No. 30 in European sales from No. 48 in July 2023.

In June, BYD jumped to No. 34 in European sales from No. 40 in June 2023.

BYD increased sales 116 percent to 4,095 in July. The gains came from the Seal and Dolphin, which added 2,223 sales to the China automaker's total last month.

SAIC's MG, which is the top-selling Chinese brand in Europe, jumped to No. 19 in July from No. 21 in July 2023 after increasing sales 16 percent to 20,492.

MG was led by the ZS, which had 8,310 sales in July, a 23 percent gain on the same month last year. Through seven months the ZS is Europe's No. 8-selling small SUV with a volume of 63,342, a rise of 45 percent on last year.

Barely more winners than losers

Last month 35 automakers increased their European sales by more than the market's 0.4 percent gain, while 34 ended the seventh month of the year with volume declines, according to Dataforce.

Eight automakers, including China's Omoda, Geely, Xpeng, Zeekr, Voyah and Hongqi, and Chinese-owned British brand Lotus recorded triple-digit percentage gains or higher.

Other brands that had strong sales increases last month included McLaren (+43 percent), Lexus (+32 percent) and Toyota (+14 percent).