Europe October sales by brand and model: Rolls-Royce, Tesla, Maserati report strong gains

Genesis, MG, Cupra, Rolls-Royce and Lynk & CO had triple-digit sales gains in October. Meanwhile, Tesla, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Audi, Polestar, Skoda and Toyota were among the 18 brands that had double-digit percentage increases in an overall European market that was up by 14 percent.

Hyundai Group's luxury brand Genesis was up more than 300 percent to 197 registrations compared with 48 in October 2021 when it was just entering the market.

It's worth noting that Chinese newcomer Nio almost matched Genesis in October with 180 registrations, led by its ES8 premium electric SUV.

Another Chinese brand, MG, increased sales 154 percent to 12,238. This was driven by strong demand for the MG ZS small crossover.

Volkswagen Group's Cupra subsidiary rose 143 percent, helped by demand for the Born electric compact, which accounted for 3,003 sales, which was a decline on the EV's 3,520 sales in September. Also, sales of the Cupra Formentor nearly doubled to 7,742 in October, according to revised figures from market researcher Dataforce (some markets were late with their figures for the month).

Rolls-Royce increased sales 134 percent to 103 units, of which the Cullinan ultraluxury SUV accounted for 69 percent of the BMW Group subsidiary's volume, according to Dataforce's numbers.

Tesla increased is volume by 81 percent despite limited sales of the Model Y, which went from being Europe's No. 1-seller in September to falling out of the top 50 in October. The big swings are not uncommon for Tesla, which focuses its sales efforts on the final month of each quarter in Europe.

Maserati increased sales 87 percent to 718, of which the new Grecale premium midsize SUV accounted for 77 percent of the Stellantis luxury brand's volume, up from 63 percent in September.

Polestar increased sales 59 percent on demand for the Polestar 2, which was Europe's No. 4-selling premium EV after 10 months.

Audi's sales rose 58 percent on strong demand for the A3, which recorded a 104 percent gain to 9,297 units.

Toyota rose 45 percent because of brisk demand for the Aygo X, which accounted for 9,470 sales in October, up from zero since it is new to the market.

Also among the brands that recorded gains during the month were Alfa Romeo (+73 percent), Skoda (+48 percent), Volkswagen (+37 percent), Ford (+33 percent), McLaren (+28 percent) and Dacia (+15 percent), according to Dataforce's revised figures.

The brands that recorded gains but were below the market average included Mercedes (+13 percent), Nissan (+11 percent) and BMW (+6.7 percent).