Belux market shrunk by 7.3% in July, EVs account for 25.1%

According to figures from the sector federation Febiac and the federal mobility and transport authority, the car market in Belgium and Luxembourg decreased by 7.3% despite the fact that July counted 3 more working days in 2024 compared to 2023.

32,151 new car registrations were noted in July. The total for the first seven months of 2024 is 295,559 new cars registered, 1.2% down on the figure in 2023.

The share of individual buyers has increased again. Where individual buyers represented only 34.2% of all new registrations in 2023 (an all-time low), their share has increased to 40% in the first seven months of this year.

The share of electric cars (BEVs) surpassed the 25% mark for the first time, as 25.1% of the newly registered cars in the first seven months were fully electric.

Other categories

Light commercial vehicles (LCVs) saw a registration decrease of 5.4% in July (-1.6% cumulatively for the first seven months). When we look at the heavyweights, trucks up to 16 tons increased their registrations by 37% (+27.4% cumulated), while those over 16 tons decreased by 15% (-3.4% cumulated for the first seven months).

July was a positive month for motorized two-wheelers. Totaling 2,650 registrations, the market increased by 5.2% in July, with a cumulative result of 2.2% for the first seven months compared to 2023.

By make

In a receding market, BMW sold 4.4% more in July, staying comfortably in the number-one position with a 12.1% market share. VW’s sales slightly decreased (-0.8%), but it stayed easily in second position with a 10.8% market share. Third is Audi (-1.5%), and fourth is Mercedes (+2.9%).

Peugeot made a remarkable comeback to fifth place thanks to a 35.5% increase in sales in July. The brands occupying sixth to tenth place all saw their registrations decrease: Volvo (6th, -1.8%), Toyota (7th, -6.8%), Renault (8th, -27.2%), Dacia (9th, -6%), and Skoda (10th, -12,1%).

Noticeable winners were Mini (13th, +82.4%), Seat (19th, +44.1%), MG (20th, +38.2%), BYD (26th, +221%), and Honda (27th, +87.8%). We also saw spectacular increases for Smart (34th, +3,350%) and Lotus (38th, +360%), but we’re talking about a small absolute number here.

Among the losers, the most noticeable were Ford (15th, -54.8%), Opel (17th, -36.1%), Nissan (23rd, -61.9%), Mazda (25th, -59.8%), Fiat (28th, -50.3%), Jeep (32nd, -40.5%), DS (33rd, -70%), Alfa Romeo (35th, -54.3%), Jaguar (36th, -51.1%), and SsangYong (37th, -57.8%).

Cumulative

For the first seven months of the year, BMW remained on top with a 10.4% market share, followed by Volkswagen (9.2%), Audi (7.8%), Mercedes (7.0%), and Volvo (5.9%). Toyota was sixth (5.5%), followed by Dacia (5.4%), Renault (4.7%), Tesla (4.5%), and Peugeot (4.4%, down from a 6.9% market share last year for the same period).

Brands that increased their market share impressively are Audi (from 6.7 to 7.8%), Volvo ( from 4.5 to 5.9%), Tesla (from 3.2 to 4.5%), and, still in the lower sales figures, Honda (doubling its market share from 0.2 to 0.4%) BYD (quadrupling its share from 0.1 to 0.4%) and Smart (jumping from almost nothing to a 0.2% share, increasing sales from 39 to 514 units).

Of course, when there are winners in market share, there must also be losers. We already mentioned Peugeot, but there is also Ford (from 3.7 to 2.6%), Opel (from 3.5 to 2.1%), Mini (from 1.7 to 1.0%), DS (from 0.6 to 0.3%), Alfa Romeo (from 0.4 to 0.2%), and Lynk&Co (from 0.4 to 0.1%).

It’s clear that the Stellantis brands are struggling these days, and Peugeot, for example, must hope that the encouraging July result wasn’t ephemeral. With the increase of electric sales in the Belux (stimulated by the company cars market but also by the Flemish premium for individual buyers), the brands that are totally electric or heavily pushing in that direction are the obvious winners. We’re thinking of Volvo, Tesla, Kia, Hyundai, MG, BYD, and Smart. Of course, in the last three cases, we’re still talking relatively small numbers.