According to data from the federal public service Mobility & Transport and sector federation, Febiac, 31,519 new cars were registered in September. Compared to the same month last year, this represents a 0.5% decrease.

Overall, registrations fell back 9.2% during the first three quarters of the year, while 323,868 new cars were registered. Febiac expects 405,000 to 410,000 registrations for the year, representing an 8.2% decrease compared to 2024.

Light commercial vehicles (LCVs) performed well in September, with registrations increasing by 10.5%. For the first three quarters, the growth rate is even higher, at 12.6%.

Looking at trucks, the results are mitigated. Trucks weighing under 16 tons saw a 2.7% decline in registrations in September, resulting in a cumulative decrease of 4.3% for the first nine months. Heavier trucks (16 tons and above) experienced a strong September, with a 10.4% increase in registrations, which slightly reduced the cumulative loss over the first nine months to -7.2%.

Two-wheelers saw a 6.9% decrease in registrations in September, resulting in a cumulative reduction of 4.3% for the first three quarters of the year.

By make

In September, BMW experienced a significant decline in its overall registrations, down 43.6%, which resulted in a drop to second place with an 8.3% market share, narrowly surpassing Mercedes in third place (8% market share, a 9.9% increase in sales). This also means that Volkswagen is the comfortable leader in September with a 10.2% market share and only a 1.2% sales decrease.

With a 10.9% sales increase in September, Renault jumps to fourth place (6.3% market share), while Audi is positioned fifth (5.7% share, down 2.6% in sales).

The following group of three all increased their registrations: Skoda (6th) sold 15.7% more and comes right behind Audi; Peugeot (7th) increased its sales by 14.7%; and Dacia sold 19.8% more than in September 2024, ending at eighth place.

Volvo (9th) is still struggling, losing 9.5% in sales again in September compared to last year, and Toyota (10th) registers also a sales decrease of 14%.

Brands that are performing well in September include Hyundai (11th, +52.4% in sales), Ford (12th, +23%), Opel (15th, +18.3%), and Citroën (16th, +115.6%). Nissan (18th, +32.4%) is also rising, as are the two major Chinese makes, MG (19th, +561%), and BYD (20th, +54%). Suzuki (21st, +34.9%) and Fiat (22nd, +100.7%) are also among the winners.

Further down, there are still a few spectacular wins. Still, we’re talking small absolute numbers here: Honda (30th) managed to sell 131 cars in September instead of 56 last year (+133.9%), Alfa Romeo (32nd) sold 99 vehicles, compared to 23 last year (+330.4%),  XPeng(34th) sold 83 cars, 207.4% more than in September 2024, and Alpine (40th) managed to register 28 cars instead of 6 (+366.7%).

Among the losers, Tesla (14th) once again leads the way, losing 49% in sales, followed by Mini (17th, -30.1% in sales), Porsche (23rd, -21.2%), Polestar (24th, -14.9%), Lexus (31st, -34.3%), and Smart (39th, -32.7%).

Cumulated: VW closing the gap

Sales figures may differ quite significnatly from one month to another for a lot of reasons, so it’s wise to look at the cumulative statistics for the first three quarters of the year. Here we see that BMW still holds a comfortable lead with 10.7% market share, but that Volkswagen is closing in (9.6% market share).

Mercedes is in third place (7.5% share), followed by Audi (7%), and Dacia (6.4%), which precedes its mother company, Renault (6.1% share). Peugeot is making a comeback and now holds seventh place with a 5.8% market share, followed by Toyota (8th, 4.7% share), Skoda (9th, 4.1%), and Kia (10th, 3.9%).

Where Volvo still had a 5.7% market share last year, it retains only 3.9%, falling back to 11th place, followed by Ford, Hyundai, Citroën, and Opel. Mini did well, achieving 18th place, a 1.8% market share (up from 1.3% last year), and a 24.2% sales increase.

Here again, Tesla(16th)  is the biggest loser: the American manufacturer saw its market share dwindle from 4.7% to 2.3%, due to a sales decrease of 55.3%. Only Mazda (27th) does worse: -55.7%.

Looking at the Chinese brands, we see that MG still leads the pack (20th, 1% share), but is in a close battle for the top 20 place with Suzuki (21st) and BYD (22nd), both of which register almost 1% market share. Polestar (28th) has increased sales by 28.3% and has a 0.7% market share. Other Chinese brands, such as XPeng (33rd), Leapmotor (36th), Jaecoo (37th), and Omoda (40th), are also emerging. Only Smart (half Chinese, 38th) is going in the opposite direction, with a 42.5% decline in sales. Korean KG Mobility (35th) is also a vigorous grower: +127.3%

Alfa Romeo(31st) has doubled its market share from 0.2% to 0.4% by selling 65.2% more cars, and Alpine has already sold 344 cars this year, compared to 137 last year (+151.1%). Lancia (42nd) has already sold 161 cars, while Jaguar (54th) still managed to sell 59, down from 425 the previous year.