According to data from the sector federation Febiac and the Federal Public Service Mobility & Transport, 28,071 new cars were registered in November, 11.8% fewer than in the same month last year. Looking at the first 11 months of this year, sales went down 9.2% compared to the previous year.

We see the same trend with light commercial vehicles (LCVs): -12.6% in November, but the cumulative result for the first 11 months remains positive with +8.7%. Heavy trucks of less than 16 tons sold a lot less last month, -28% (-5.9% for the first 11 months), while +16 ton trucks sold slightly more (+2.6%), resulting in a -4.8% for the first 11 months.

For two-wheelers, the winter months are consistently low. Still, this year the contrast with last year is even starker because of the change in rules (the Euro 5+ standard introduced in January), which led to an accelerated sales boost in the last months of 2024. The result: -51.1% this November compared to 2024. Cumulated, the loss is 9.1% this year.

By make

BMW recovered from the lower sales in October and leads the market again, increasing its sales slightly (+1.3%) compared to October last year. With a market share of almost 12% it leads comfortably in October, also because Volkswagen sold 21.6% fewer cars last month than in November 2024.

Also, the rest of the top five sold significantly less. Mercedes (3rd) saw its sales decrease by 11.9%, Renault (4th) sold 17.1% fewer cars, and Dacia (5th) saw a 18.8% decrease in sales. Everybody in the rest of the top ten also encountered significant reductions in registrations, from Audi (6th, -14.2%) over Peugeot (7th, -20%), Skoda (8th, -31.7%), Volvo (9th, -24.2%) up to Toyota (10th, -22.7%).

One of the biggest losers, it gets to be a habit, is Tesla (11th, -41%). Others are Nissan ((20th, -31.7%), Fiat (24th, -17%), Polestar ((27th, -34.8%), and Seat (29th, -39.5%). The biggest losers (in percentage), however, saw their sales more than halved: Porsche (26th, -59%), and Lexus (37th, -57.5%).

But there are also winners and, not surprisingly, they’re predominantly Chinese. With MG (16th, +366%) and BYD (19th, +85%), we now have two Chinese brands in the top 20. Other Chinese brands evolving spectacularly well (be it still with smaller absolute figures) are Leapmotor (28th, +342%), Xpeng (32nd, +86.4%), Jaecoo (33rd, no sales registered in October 2024), and Omoda (38th, +2,300%).

Non-Chinese makes that did well are Hyundai (13th, +20.6%), Mini (18th, +29.7%), Suzuki (21st, +28.1%), Mazda (22nd, +85.7%), Land Rover (23rd, +12.8%), and Honda (30th, +127.5%). Lancia (40th, +254.6%) and Alpine (41st, +733.3%) have spectacular growth percentages, but those absolute sales figures remain very small.

Cumulated

Looking at the first 11 months (YTD), we can now almost be sure that BMW will be the number one again on the Belux market, for the 5th consecutive year. With a market share of 10.9%, it has sold almost 5,700 cars more than Volkswagen (2nd, 9.4% market share), and that’s unlikely to be recovered in one month.

Mercedes stays third (7.5% market share), Audi is fourth (6.8%), and Dacia (5th, 6.4%) still precedes ‘mother’ Renault (6th, 6.1%). Seventh is Peugeot (5.9%), followed by Toyota (8th, 4.7%), Skoda (9th, 4.2%), and Volvo (10th, 4%).

Other remarkable facts: Tesla is now 16th and has seen its market share halve from 4.6% to 2.3%, with sales down 55%. Other serious losers are Land Rover (20th, 1.1% market share, -24.3% in sales), Porsche (23rd, 0.9%, -22.5%), Mazda (26th, 0.8%, -46.2%), Seat (27th, 0.8%, -36.8%), and Smart ((38th, 0.1%, -36.2%). Subaru seems to have faded away completely, having sold 138 cars here in 11 months, 45.2% fewer than in November last year.

Among the winners, many are Chinese, but there’s also Mini (18th, 1.8%, +27.2% in sales), Alfa Romeo (31st, 0.4%, +63.2%), and Alpine (39th, 0.1%, +174.3%).

The most important Chinese brand is still MG (19th, 1.2%, +13.6%), but BYD is closing in (21st, 1.0%, +72.7%). Polestar isn’t doing badly either (28th, 0.7%, +24.2%), but the most significant progression comes, of course, from the recent starters like XPeng (33rd, 0.3%, +489%), Leapmotor (35th, 0.2%, +1,190.3%), Jaecoo (37th), and Omoda (40th).