In 2023, the car market in Belgium and Luxembourg (Belux) booked its best result since the pandemic broke out and ended close to the sales average of the last ten years (476 675 cars registered compared to 483 670 as the decade average).

In  December 2023, 25 715 new cars were registered, which is still 4,6% more than in 2022, even though there were two working days less this year. Also in December, the BMW brand led the market, resulting in a third consecutive year of best-selling brand title for the German premium brand.

The big booster of the total market is the professional market. Company cars represented 67% of total sales and sold 41% more than in 2022. The individual buyers also bought more cars, but there was only a 12% increase. In total, the Belux market increased by 30,1% compared to 2022.

Other categories

When we look at light commercial vehicles, the market increased by 20,4% in 2023, and the same is to be noted for heavier trucks, where the market rose by 26% for those weighing less than 16 tons and by 16,2% for the really heavy ones (+16 tons).

As usual, two-wheelers didn’t sell well in the winter months (especially December), totaling even 31,3% less than in 2022. Still, the cumulative sales for two-, three- and four-wheelers were 2,7% higher in 2023 compared to the year before.

BMW is number one again

With a market share of 13,6% in December and 10,6% for the whole year, the BMW brand was the undisputed leader in 2023, registering 50 579 new cars in total in the Belux (+33,1%), an all-time record.

As the number two, Volkswagen sold 45 272 cars (+41,2%). VW’s premium daughter Audi performed a better final sprint than Mercedes-Benz and took third place from the Stuttgarters by selling… 133 cars more in the whole of 2023 (35 396 (+34,8%) against 35 263 (+20,4%)).

Fifth place was for Peugeot, which only grew by 0,7% and lost 1,8% of its market share, from 8% to 6,2%. The other major French brand, Renault, did much better this year, positioning itself at 6th place and selling 32,2% better than the year before.

The other four brands in the top ten were Toyota (7th, +10,7%), Volvo (8th, and an impressive +63,2%), Dacia (9th, +34,2%), and finally Kia (10th, +22,58%).

Over- and underperformers

Other brands that performed well were Skoda (11th, +43,9%), Tesla (13th, with a whopping +234,4% and a market share from 1,3 up to 3,4%), Nissan (17th, +36,1%), Mazda (19th, +61,5%), and Land Rover (22nd, +84,3%).

When we look into the lower regions of the market (less than 5 000 cars sold in one year), we also notice some interesting growers like MG (23rd, +432%), Cupra (24th, +196,6%), Suzuki (25th, +48%), Jeep (27th, +49,2%), Polestar (28th, +47,3%), Alfa Romeo (30th, +100,4%), Lexus (34th, +62,8%), and Subaru (37th, +50,8%). Still small but steeply rising: BYD (36th, +1 263,4%, from 41 to 559 sales), Lotus (38th, +478,1%, from 32 to 185 cars), and Alpine (39th, +43,8%, from 121 to 174 cars sold).

The brands that underperformed clearly (negative performance in a market that grew almost one-third) were mainly situated in the Stellantis Group, with Citroën (14th, -6,6%), Fiat (21st, -0,8%), and DS (29th, -5,8%). Also Lynk & Co (32nd, -7,1%) and Jaguar (35th, -4%) were disappointing. The almost-dead Mitsubishi saw a sudden uprise: it registered 30 new cars in 2023, compared to 6 in 2022 (+400%).

What about the future?

The Belux market has reached a ‘normal’ level again, but nobody knows if this will persist in the coming years. The past years, the market was distorted due to the pandemic and supply shortages. These are gone now, and apart from the overwhelming company car market (Belux is unique in the world, having three premium brands in the top five sellers), the market stays slow.

Undoubtedly, the market will still thrive for some months on getting rid of the accumulated delays, but the orders for new cars are slowing down rapidly now, and more and more people expect a regression in sales in 2024.

The sector hopes that more affordable EVs, the Flemish premium of €5 000 for those, and a growing charging infrastructure will finally convince individual buyers to go electric. As 2026 approaches, BEVs will already represent 2024, the most essential part of sales in the professional market, but experts don’t see much growth there.

Overall, there seems to be a growing consensus that the Belgian car market will shrink by about 4% in 2024. The premium brands estimate they can do better (-1%), but BMW Group Belux CEO Alexander Wehr confirmed a few weeks ago that his brand will not be able to better the record figures they made last year.

Chinese brands

Last, but not least, it will also be interesting to see what the Chinese brands will do in our market. MG sold almost 5 000 cars in 2023, and a newcomer like BYD shows big ambition. Others will follow, mainly because they still have a price advantage and can already deliver what other (European) manufacturers are only promising for now.

We’ll also see what Urusula von der Leyen and her EU Commissioners will do about this. Still, the German manufacturers (especially the premium ones) are not keen on challenging the Chinese with higher import taxes. They have too many interests, like an essential Chinese market and a dependence on Chinese parts, especially for their EVs.