Nissan Motor Co. last week released new sales figures showing it has retaken the crown of the best-selling Asian car brand in Europe.
The Japanese automobile manufacturer managed to sell a total of 384,726 vehicles in the first six months of 2015, an increase of 4.3% on the same time period last year.
Nissan took the title of the top selling Asian brand from fellow Japanese manufacturer Toyota, who had held the position since 1998.
“What we are doing with our brand, our products and our customer service promise is clearly working,” said Nissan Europe senior vice president of sales and marketing, Guillaume Cartier. “We’re delighted customers have continued to put their trust in Nissan to make us the number one selling Asian brand in Europe.”
Overall European vehicle registrations
Volkswagen still significantly overshadowed Nissan as Europe’s overall best-selling brand with around 900,000 VW vehicles delivered and around 850,000 new registrations in the first 6 months of 2015.
The result means the German auto company has a current market share of about 12.1%.
Across all brands, total European new passenger car registrations for the first semester of 2015 increased 8.2%, compared to the first six months of 2014, surpassing 7 million units (7,169,984). All major markets posted growth and contributed to the overall upturn of the EU automotive market over the period.
Registrations in Spain (+22.0%), Italy (+15.2%), the UK (+7.0%), France (+6.1%) and Germany (+5.2%) increased compared to the same period one year ago
Nissan registrations
Nissan’s market share in Europe now stands at 4.2% of the total automobile market in the region.
While Nissan’s sales have grown across the entire continent, some regions performed significantly better than others. New car registrations increased significantly in a number countries including the UK (+34%), Spain (+18%) and Germany (+11%).
Additionally, in Italy passenger car sales increased by more than 23% in the first half of the year, with 32,611 vehicles sold by Nissan.
This growth allowed the company to achieve record market share in the UK and France in the first half of 2015, with 80,000 vehicles being sold in the UK alone
Driving Nissan’s success is a series of new models including the UK-manufactured Nissan Qashqai and the Nissan LEAF electric vehicle.
“This year we are proud to be celebrating the 5th birthday of the Nissan LEAF. With 184,000 units sold globally and over 93 per cent customer satisfaction rate, the LEAF remains the best-selling electric car,” Cartier said.
Another strong seller in the European market was the X-Trail SUV produced in Russia. The Nissan St Petersburg factory recently produced its 200,000th vehicle, making it the fasting growing auto-factory in the country.
Nonetheless, Nissan is looking to continue its vehicle development, in order to continue its market success into the future.
“We will continue to challenge ourselves to bring more to our customers – more choice, more value and more innovative and exciting products,” Guillaume Cartier said.
