European car sales in November: BYD soared

According to preliminary data from market research firm Dataforce, new car sales in Europe rose 6.1% year-on-year to more than 1.05 million units in November.

Overall, 46 auto brands saw year-on-year sales growth in Europe last month, with 37 of them outpacing the overall market growth. Twelve brands, including BYD, Lotus, Fisker and Ineos, Ora, Xpeng and Great Wall, all posted triple-digit or higher gains.

In November, the Volkswagen brand was the number one selling car brand in Europe, followed by BMW and Toyota, although Toyota's sales ranking slipped to third place from second place in November 2022.

BMW, Skoda and BYD had strong sales in Europe in November, with all moving up the ranks of Europe's best-selling brands compared to a year earlier. Among them, BMW's sales ranking rose from fourth place in November last year to second place in November this year, and the sales of the BMW 1 Series and 2 Series (both up 16%) and the all-electric i4 (up more than 60%) performed well.

Among Chinese brands, BYD's European sales increased by almost 500% last month, taking it up to 38th place, compared to 46th in November 2022. BYD's surge in sales was mainly due to strong demand for the Atto 3 all-electric compact crossover in the European market.

SAIC's MG brand also saw a 46% year-on-year increase in monthly sales to 19,868 units. In terms of cumulative sales in the first 11 months, MG's sales have successfully doubled to more than 200,000 units.

However, there were also 27 brands that saw a decline in sales. Among them, Ford's sales fell 13% year-on-year to 40,703 units, causing its ranking to drop from 8th to 12th in November 2022. An important reason for the decline in sales was the decline in sales of three key models, namely the Fiesta small car, the Focus compact car and the Kuga compact SUV.

In terms of models, preliminary data from Dataforce shows that the Dacia Sandero became the best-selling model in Europe in November. This is the second consecutive month that the model has been the best-selling model in Europe, and the fourth time that it has been the best-selling model of the month between January and November this year.

Throughout 2023, the Tesla Model Y has been the best-selling model in Europe in the second month of each quarter (i.e., February, May, and August), but the Model Y was not the best-selling model in November. Tesla's Model Y ranked second last month with sales down 8.2% year-on-year to 17,464 units. This may be because of Tesla's dispute with unions and some pension funds in the Nordic region.

Previously, Tesla's refusal to accede to Swedish employees' demands for collective bargaining rights over wages and other conditions led to a strike by Swedish employees. At present, the strike has spread to dock workers in neighboring Denmark, Finland and Norway, and Tesla has also had to transport cars bound for Sweden by truck from the continent.

In terms of cumulative sales in the first 11 months, Tesla's Model Y sales are ahead of the Dacia Sandero model. Since the beginning of this year, Tesla's Model Y has been the European monthly sales champion for seven months (February, March, May, June, August, September, and October). In previous years, Tesla Model Y sales typically peak in the last month of the fourth quarter, but Tesla's challenges in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway could also tip the tide.

At the end of November, sales of the MG ZS in Europe surged 88% year-on-year to 78,297 units, ranking 44th in the European sales list.