Belux car market one fifth down in August

According to the data of the sector federation, Febiac, 29,333 cars were registered in Belgium and Luxembourg in August 2024, a regress of -20,3% compared to the same month last year. Cumulated over the previous eight months, this means a decrease of 3.3% overall.

It is noticeable that the segment of individual buyers is still increasing slightly. However, professional buyers are still slowing down, mainly because they fiercely increased their registrations just before the fiscal changes for company cars in July 2023.

We see the same tendency when we look at light commercial vehicles (LCVs): 3,918 new registrations mean that in August 2024, 25.1% fewer LCVs were registered than a year ago. The decrease is -4.2% compared to the first eight months of 2023.

The market for heavy commercial vehicles suffered a lot in August: -59.1 for trucks under 16 tons and -56.4% for those above. Cumulated, the numbers are less dramatic, with +9.2% for the -16-ton trucks and -12% for the heavier ones.

Motorized two-wheelers registered almost the same number as last year, 2,153 units in 2024, or four more than last year (+0.2+). Cumulated, the market is still 2.3% bigger than last year.

By brand

Also, in August, BMW was the clear leader in the sales charts, registering 4,037 cars, or 17 fewer than in August last year (-0.4%).  Volkswagen saw a free fall in its registrations, -1,302 units, resulting in a -30.4% decrease. Mercedes (3rd) is limiting the damage (-7.5%), but VW daughter Audi follows the example of its bigger sister: -30.4% or 928 cars less.

Peugeot has (re)climbed to fifth place in August (losing only 5.7%), followed by Renault (6th, -0.7%), Toyota (7th, -7.9%), Volvo (8th, +9%), Kia (9th, -25.1%), and Tesla (10th, -17.1%).

The other brands of the Stellantis Group aren’t doing so well as Peugeot, Opel (14th) regressing by 29.4%, Citroën (17th, -63.3%), Fiat (22nd, -31.1%), Alfa Romeo (32nd, -62%), and DS (33rd, -79.5%). Only Jeep holds firm: 21st in the ranking, -0.8% in registrations).

Other noticeable losers were Ford (13th, -43.4%), Hyundai (19th, -43.6%), Nissan (20th, -47.1%), Seat (26th, -55.6%), Suzuki (27th, -44.2%), Cupra (29th, -57.9%), and, remarkably, MG (34th, -88.8%). That’s an even bigger regress than Jaguar (40th, -83.3%), which still registered 14 cars in the Belux in August, one car less than… Ferrari and the same number as Maserati.

Noticeable climbers

Nevertheless, there were a few noticeable climbers, the ones to be expected: BYD (23rd, +485%) and Smart (31st, +2,300%). Honda did well, obtaining 28th place and a 50.4% increase in registrations.

When we look at the first eight months of 2024, BMW comfortably leads with a 10.7% market share, followed by Volkswagen (9.3%), Audi (7.7%), Mercedes (7.1%), Volvo (5.8%), Toyota (5.5%), Dacia (5.2%), Renault (4.8%), Tesla (4.5%), and Peugeot, who also closed the top ten with 4.8%.

Noticeable evolutions in the lower regions are Smart, from almost nothing to a 0.2% market share; BYD, which nearly quintupled its market share (from 0.1 to 0.5%); and Honda, which more than doubled it (from 0.2 to 0.5%).

Big losers are Peugeot (from 6.7% to 4.8%), Ford (from 3.7 to 2.6%), Opel (from 3.3 to 2.1%), Mini (from 1.7 to 1.1%), Fiat (from 1.3 to 0.9%), DS (from 0.6 to 0.3%), Alfa Romeo (from 0.4 to 0.2%), and Lynk&Co (from 0.4 to 0.1%), which seemed to have entirely disappeared from the market in August.