Not surprisingly, Volkswagen sold more cars in Europe than anyone else in the first half of calendar year 2007. VW sold 155,595 units in the first half of the year, a 0.6 percent decrease over the previous year, but still enough to capture a higher percentage of car sales than anyone else.
Volkswagen took 10.1 percent of the market. The rest of the top-five, by percentage per individual brand, were: Opel/Vauxhall (9); Renault (8.2), Ford (7.6) and Peugeot (7.2). Fiat and Citroen tied for sixth with six percent.
Also not surprising is the fact that the VW Group, as a whole, captured more of the market than any other group: 19.1 percent. The next closest was PSA, which includes Peugeot and Citroen, at 13.2 percent, and Ford at 9.9 percent.
The biggest gainers in the first half were Honda , whose sales climbed 23.5 percent, and Renault-owned Dacia, whose sales grew 23 percent, thanks to rapid sales in Eastern Europe. The biggest losers? Saab and Lexus , both of whom dropped around 17 percent. But Saab and Lexus are relatively small players in Europe, so every sale makes a difference.
