The number of car registrations in Belgium and Luxembourg was down 13% in January compared to last year. According to data from the Federal Service Mobility and Transport and Importer Federation Febiac, this decrease is due to a 23.8% regress in company car registrations. Individual buyers bought 11.7% more cars.
This means the Belgian car market is shifting again toward a more balanced ratio between professional buying and individual purchases. 43.9% of the cars registered in January were for individual buyers, and 56.1% were company cars.
Febiac sees the beneficial ‘motor show conditions’ that were already valid in December 2024 as one reason. Another reason might be that the professional sector is waiting for the new tax measures of the brand-new federal government that make PHEVs fiscally more interesting again.
Where light commercial vehicles are concerned, the market boomed in January with a 9.8% increase. Truck registrations under 16 tons increased slightly (+2.5%), while the heavier ones grew more (+14.2%).
January is always a difficult month for two-wheeler sales, but the new Euro5+ emission standard effective 1 January has accentuated the problem. November and December 2024 were excellent sales months because the ‘old’ bikes with the simple Euro5 nom had to be moved. The relapse comes now.
BMW is still in the lead
Looking at the different brands, BMW is still comfortably in the lead, with 10% more sales in January than last year and a market share of almost 14.8%. Despite a 5% decline in registrations, Mercedes was second in January but with a market share of only 9.1%. Volkswagen (6.4% sales increase) comes close behind with a 9% market share.
Fourth is Dacia, the ever-growing ‘low-cost’ daughter of the Renault Group. The brand increased sales by 8.7% and scored a 6.2% market share. Audi had awful January sales (-46.7%) and fell back into fifth place with a 6% market share.
Toyota (-14.1% in registrations) is sixth with a 5.5% market share, but it registered only 17 more cars than Renault (7th, +17%, 5.5% market share). In eighth place, we find French rival Peugeot, still losing sales (-24.9%), with a 4.6% market share. Kia is number nine (-2.4%, 4.3% market share), and Volvo tubled down to tenth place due to a horrifying regress of registrations (-54.5%), resulting in a 3.8% market share.
Also remarkable is Tesla’s sales loss (-44.8%, 15th), which confirms the general malaise of recent Tesla sales in Europe. Other noticeable losers are Skoda (13th, -34.4%), Suzuki (19th, -24.8%), Land Rover (20th, -53.8%), Seat (23rd, -31.4%), Mazda (26th, -59.4%), Fiat (28th, -31.5%), Honda (31st, -42.6%), and Jeep (32nd, -42.9%).
Looking at the winners, Polestar (24th) stands out with a 115.8% plus in sales in January. Could it be that quite a lot of buyers are shifting from Tesla to Polestar because of Musk’s political escapades? Other winners are Hyundai (11th, +18.1%), Citroën (14th, +49.5%), BYD (27th, +88.6%), DS (33rd, +30.4%), and Smart (36th, +28.6%).
Another Chinese newcomer, XPeng (34th), has surpassed the latter, registering 86 cars in January instead of one last year (+8,500%). Maxus (37th) also did very well (+2,650%), but we’re talking tiny absolute numbers here. Newcomer Leapmotor (38th) has already registered 52 cars in January, and Lancia (40th) sold 20.
Finally, Jaguar sold 13 cars in January (48th, 69 less than last year, resulting in -84.2%), and Lynk & Co registered 14, a 75.4% decrease. Sports car manufacturers Ferrari and Aston Martin did well, increasing sales by 46.2% and 700%, respectively, but we’re talking 19 and 16 cars here.
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