BMW X1 most popular new car in Belux, VW Golf stays n°1 second-hand

We recently gave you an overview of the December registrations in the Belux and the success of the EVs; today, we received the entire market overview for 2024. The most popular new car in 2024 was the BMW X1, and the best seller on the second-hand market is still the Volkswagen Golf.

Here’s a quick recap: In 2024, 448,277 new cars were registered in the Belux, 6% less than the year before and 6.5% less than the market average for the last ten years. For the first time, electrified cars were the majority: 52.6% were BEVs, PHEVs, or HEVs, with a few FCEVs.

With 727,650 cars traded on the second-hand market, we noted the best result since 2015. That’s thanks to the availability of vehicles on the market and an average price decrease of 7.5%, says sector umbrella organization Mobia. 61.6% of the newly registered cars were company cars, which was still 68.9% in 2023. 34.1% of these cars for professional use were registered in the leasing/renting sector, and 25.9% were directly bought.

Electric boost

While gasoline cars still represent 41.8% of the total market, diesel cars are further disappearing and now represent less than 5% (4.9% against 8.8% in 2023). The market share of BEVs jumped from 19.6% to 28.5%, and PHEVs dropped from 21.1% to 14.9%.

Hybrids now represent 9.2% of the market, an increase of 1.5%. Cars powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) have practically disappeared, and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) still represents 0.8%.

On the second-hand market, things are pretty different. The gasoline car reigns, increasing its market share by 1.1% to 55.1%. On the contrary, the diesel car loses terrain: -5%, resulting in 30.6%. Electrified vehicles are increasing, but we’re still talking smaller numbers here: 10.6% for HEVs and PHEVs (+2.5%) and 3.2% for BEVs (+1.4%).

Individual buyers still prefer gasoline in the new car market: 65.7% are gasoline ICEs, 15.1% are HEVs, and 3.6% are PHEVs. BEVs represent only 9.6% of the total, diesel cars fall to 4.3%, and LPG represents 1.9%.

The professional part of the market is entirely different. Gasoline represents only 26.9%, diesel cars 5.3%, PHEVs 22%, HEVs 5.5%, and BEVs a whopping 40.3%. There’s still 0.1% for LPG; undoubtedly, the professional buyers of American pickup trucks try to contain the fuel bill of their V8 gas guzzlers with the still cheaper LPG.

Cumulating the different markets, we see that new PHEVs are essentially bought in the company car market (90.9%), hybrid cars are most popular with individual buyers (63%), and BEVs are mainly company cars (87%).

Top Sellers

For the fourth consecutive year, BMW leads the Belux new car market and has the best-seller in its portfolio. The BMW X1 sold 20,040 times, followed by the Tesla Model Y (13,223), and the Dacia Sandero (12,674).

In Flanders, the first two stay the same; in Wallonia, the market is led by two Dacias, the Sandero and the Duster; in Brussels, the BMW X1 is followed by the Audi Q4 e-tron.

Looking at the drive type, we see a mix: the most popular car is a BEV, the Tesla Model Y; the Dacia Sandero (gasoline ICE) takes second place, and the hybrid version of the BMW X1 takes third place.

Looking at the second-hand market, we notice that the Volkswagen Golf is still the undisputed market leader with 29.393 units sold, followed by its smaller brother, the VW Polo (20,821), and the Opel Corsa (18,837). The top five are further represented by two BMW models, the 3-series (16.137 transactions) and the 1-series (14,851).

Finally, looking at the owner profile for new cars, we see four premium brands in the top five in the professional market, with BMW first, Volkswagen second, Audi third, Mercedes-Benz fourth, and Volvo number five. Individual new car buyers prefer Dacia, followed by Volkswagen, Toyota, Renault, and Kia.