The European car market has posted its highest Q1 performance since 2000, despite car registrations falling in March, but diesel registrations were hard hit again.

Volkswagen’s T-Roc climbed the ranks most in Europe, becomign the 39th most popular model

Figures published by Jato show that solid growth in January and February helped push the total Q1 registrations to 4.27m – up 0.7`% on the same period in 2017 while also reaching pre-economic crisis levels, in spite of March’s 5.2% to 1.84m registrations.

However, the UK continued to hold back Europe, with volume falling by 12.4% to 718,500 units in Q1. 474,100 of these units were registered in March, marking the UK’s lowest March performance since 2014. Italian registrations also recorded a decline in Q1, with volume down 1.3% after a long period of growth. There were also falls in Norway, which posted the second biggest decline across all European markets of 11.3%, and Ireland, where the market was down by 5.3%. These were offset by strong performances in Spain, Poland, the Netherlands and the Eastern European region.

Results from Q1 show that consumers are continuing to shift away from diesel and towards gasoline vehicles. Data for 18 of the 27 European markets showed that gasoline cars counted for 55% of registrations, whilst diesel cars continued to drop and counted for just 38%. Alternative fuelled vehicles continued their year-on-year growth and saw an increased volume of 23.4%.

However, “the diesel decline isn’t having an impact on the popularity of Alternative Fuelled Vehicles – most consumers are turning towards gasoline cars rather than electric vehicles,” explained Felipe Munoz, JATO’s global analyst.

SUVs continued their seemingly unstoppable growth, making up one in every three cars registered in Europe with a volume increase of 20% for the quarter and 13.3% for March. SUVs were also one of only three categories to see volume increase including executive and luxury car segments. PSA and Volkswagen were credited with growth in the small, compact and midsize SUV sub-segments. Perhaps predictably, or should that be consequently, the MPV market share declined by 2%, down to 6.1% – one of the lowest in the segment’s history. Likewise, the compact and subcompact segments recorded market share losses in Q1.

Continued strong performance of the Volkswagen Golf alongside the arrival of the Volkswagen T-Roc, Seat Arona, Škoda Karoq and Kodiaq, the Volkswagen Group retained its position as Europe’s best-selling car maker in March – with a market share increase from 22.7% in Q1-17 to 23.7% in Q1-18 with more than 1.01 million registrations – an increase of 5.2%. The T-Roc was also Europe’s vehicle with the highest market share gain amongst all models in Q1 and March, resulting in it becoming the 39th best-selling car in Europe with more than 13,600 units registered. However, despite the SUV-centric market, the Volkswagen Golf remained the most popular model in Europe with its volume up by 16.4% in March to 54,100 units.

Dragging its heels particularly in the declining UK market, Opel/Vauxhall restricted growth for the PSA Group which stalled at 696,300 for the quarter. Renault-Nissan was the third largest car maker with 613,200 units registered, despite a small decrease in volume of 0.8%.

Posting the greatest market losses in March 2018 were Ford and FCA, attributed largely to the decline in MPV sales. However, although Fiat suffered, Jeep and Alfa Romeo offered a boost and continued to grow thanks to their SUV ranges. Meanwhile, Hyundai-Kia posted the highest percentage increase, with volume up by 7.0% to 277,800 units as a result of the new Kia Stonic and Hyundai Kona.

Europe’s top models

The Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo, Ford Focus and Opel/Vauxhall Corsa felt the decline in the UK market, as their volume dropped by double-digits in March 2018. On the other hand, the Fiat 500 had a strong month and entered the top 10 of the most popular models sold, with 26,500 registrations.

Likewise, the Peugeot 3008 SUV, Alfa Romeo Stelvio, Škoda Kodiaq, BMW 6-Series, Mini Countryman, Audi Q5, Nissan Leaf and Suzuki Swift all posted good results for March, whilst the Opel/Vauxhall Astra, Opel/Vauxhall Meriva, Opel/Vauxhall Mokka, Renault Megane and Ford B-Max all lost ground.