Thirty-three brands increased their European sales in June by more than the market, which was up 19 percent, while 48 brands ended the final month of the first half with volume gains.
At the same time, 13 brands lost volume for the month, according to preliminary figures from market researcher Dataforce.
Ten brands, led by China's Ora, which is part of Great Wall's portfolio, recorded quadruple- or triple-digit gains. Sales at Ora jumped more than 3,000 percent from a low base to 225 units.
Sales at Chinese budget brand EVO, which is sold in Italy and France by Italian company DR Automobiles, rose by 208 percent to 748 for the month.
Other top gainers included Lexus, MG and Tesla.
There were 34 brands with double-digit increases, including solidly market-beating gains at Volvo, Audi, Volkswagen, Mini, Ford, Mazda and Suzuki, according to data representing about 94 percent of sales in the European Union, the EFTA countries and the U.K.
With a 168 percent increase to 6,096 sales for the month, Lexus, the Toyota Motor premium brand, recorded the largest increase among volume sellers, after facing severe semiconductor shortages last year. The brand’s biggest seller was the NX midsize SUV, which was especially affected by production delays in 2022 due to parts shortages.
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NX sales were up 219 percent, while the UX compact SUV was up 122 percent and the RX large SUV up 95 percent.
MG, the SAIC brand that is focusing on selling lower-cost EVs as well as combustion-based models, was up by 161 percent to 24,850 sales, with the new-to-market MG4 compact EV recording 7,278 sales for the month. That put the MG4 EV into the top 10 best-selling compacts overall in the first half. At the same time, the MG ZS compact SUV recorded 10,250 sales in June, an increase of 181 percent.
After a more than 2,000 percent increase in May, Tesla’s sales growth slowed in June to 113 percent compared with the same month in 2022. The Model Y premium midsize SUV was up 105 percent, while the Model 3 sedan was up 115 percent; both cars continued to benefit from sharp price cuts.
Tesla’s June sales were 43,691, a large increase from the 24,281 in May but less than the 60,933 cars sold in March. The brand has had an irregular delivery schedule, with imports from its China factory, which supplement European production from its German plant near Berlin, often arriving in large batches toward the end of each quarter.
Volvo continued a run of strong sales, up 89 percent to 22,135. The Geely-owned brand was led by the XC40 compact SUV, which was up 188 percent from June 2022 to 9,814 units.
Another Geely brand with a notable increase was Polestar, which was up 106 percent for the month as the Polestar 2 midsize premium fastback EV gained traction among buyers; a third Geely brand, Lynk & CO, saw sales rise 58 percent for its lone model, the 01 (a sibling model to the XC40).
Audi’s 43 percent gain led VW Group brands, with strong performances from the small A1 (up 176 percent to 7,803 units); the Q4 E-tron (up 148 percent to 3,629) and the Q8 flagship SUV (up 136 percent to 1,704).
Audi, with 69,606 sales for June, outperformed its premium rivals BMW (up 12 percent to 63,144) and Mercedes-Benz (up 14 percent to 61,137).
Other brands that recorded market-beating gains included Mazda (+85 percent), Suzuki (+53 percent) Mini (+35 percent) and Ford (+34 percent). Europe’s No. 1-selling brand, VW, which was up 23 percent, had the largest absolute sales gain with an increase of 24,446 units to 132,111 sales.
In addition to Mercedes and BMW, the 15 brands that recorded gains below the market average included Kia and Lancia( both +17 percent), Seat (+16 percent), Jaguar (+14 percent) and Renault (+12 percent).
