Belux car registrations in May:-5,9%

According to the data of the sector federation, Febiac, the car registrations in Belgium and Luxembourg decreased by 5.9% compared to May 2023. According to Febiac, the regression is due to the company car market because many contracts were anticipated in 2023 for fiscal reasons.

The market for individual buyers is increasing. For the first five months, 213,746 cars were registered, a 0.5% increase compared to January-May 2023.

Light commercial vehicle (LCV) sales shrunk by 11.4% in May and 1.8% for the first five months. Trucks that weigh 16 tons or more didn’t do well (-27.6% in May, -4% cumulated); the lighter trucks stood the line: +0% in May, +29% overall.

Finally, motorized two-wheeler registrations increased by 6.6% in May, leading to a cumulative growth of +8.6 % for the first five months (more than 1,000 units more).

By make

As usual, BMW is leading the game, although sales were sliding slightly in May (-2.4%). Volkswagen stays firmly number two (+2%), and Audi continues to do very well (+18.3% in a regressing market). Number four, Mercedes, stays exactly on the same level as last year in May, while Volvo increases its sales by 21,8% and takes 5th place from Renault (-6.5%).

Japan’s number one, Toyota, takes 6th place, but sells 16.2% less and is almost the only Japanese company in regress. Nissan (16th) is performing well (+42.3%), as is Mazda (19th, +7.9%) and Toyota’s daughter Lexus (31st, +22.9%). The most amazing move here is Honda, which climbed to 30th place and increased sales from 54 to 152 units (+181.5%). Other good performers are Hyundai (11th, +107,2%), Tesla (12th, +26,7%), Land Rover (18th, +33,3%), and Porsche (22nd, +27.2%).

The Chinese are also pursuing their ascent: MG (25th) grows 31.9%, BYD (28th) an impressive 235.1% (but starting low, of course), Maxus (41st) does a +400%, and others are also popping up in the market. The biggest Chinese loser is Lynk & Co (40th, -82.4%). With the disappearance of Alain Visser as CEO, somebody within that Geely daughter should perhaps start to decide which way they want to go. Another Geely brand, Polestar (29th, -47.4%), is also looking for its second breath.

The French groups were not displaying Olympic form in May. Renault’s daughter Dacia (8th, -15.9%) did worse than its mother, and Alpine halved its sales (from 28 to 14). Almost the whole Stellantis group went seriously into the red: Peugeot (9th, -39.6%), Citroën (14th, -19.5%), Opel (17th, -44.2%), Fiat (23rd, -33.7%), DS (32nd, -61.9%), Alfa Romeo (33rd, -63.4%). Only Jeep (27th, +15.9%) stands firm.

And where Land Rover is doing well, sister company Jaguar is practically non-existent anymore. It’s now on rank 38 and sold 48 cars in May, compared to 99 in May 2023 (-51.5%). Another ‘English’ Geely daughter, on the contrary, did remarkably well: Lotus sold 56 cars instead of… one last year (+5,500%), while Smart (half Geely) did very well, too: from 4 to 52 sales (+1,200%).

BMW’s daughter Mini(26th place), finally, is desperately waiting for its new Mini Cooper, Countryman, and Aceman models to come on the market as quickly as possible. Sales went down from 810 to 262 units (-67.7%) in May.

A brief look at the ranking for the first five months shows BMW comfortably in the number one spot (10.6% market share), followed by Volkswagen (9.1%), Audi (8.1%), Mercedes (7.2%), and Volvo (6.2%).

Toyota is sixth (5.7% market share), followed by Dacia (5.6%), preceding parent Renault (4,8%). Tesla is in 9th place (4.6%), pushing Peugeot to tenth (4.2% share).

The first Chinese brand stays MG (0.6% market share), followed by Polestar (0.39%) and BYD, which is already just behind (0.36%). Smart  and Lotus are climbing steeply, but with relatively small numbers, Lynk & Co seems to be drastically disappearing from the Belux market.