Top 10 Car Brands in Europe (1990-2021) 

Pants? 👖😅

It was indeed a bit misleading. This is better. 👍

It's not only the title... Not your usual quality stuff.

Remember to Lancia and Subaru 😂

This is just a quick video. There will still be regular car videos every 2 weeks. New one on Friday about Porsche's effort to make a 4-door car!

Same as Citroen for a French …

Well, the UK's car makers had departed the Top 10 rankings long before the start date of this graph.

looking at the quality and longevity of their products it is quite surprising that they were in the top 10 in the first place!

My girlfriend bought a 1999 Fiat Punto when it was a couple of years old. Amongst many problems, at 5 years old and 40000 miles the entire windscreen wiper mechanism (which used plastic joints like Big Cars Lego,) disintegrated. I bought a properly engineered replacement on eBay. The telling thing was that the company selling them had sold hundreds. Summed up the quality of the entire car.

Came here to say exactly the same thing, it was a depressing experience. C'aggia fa'...

VW can easily fix that. Bring back the old Skoda! 😅🤣

I don't even think they're that big in the UK but they're huge in Ireland.

I absolutely hate having Asian car brands anywhere in Europe, it's stupid.

Japanese and South Korean makes must be huge in Asia as Toyota are the biggest in the world. I'm seeing more and more Kia and Hyundai on our roads now, and a lot of BMW's.

Lots of people have fallen headfirst into the myth of German cars being "Premium". That's a great indicator how people are so easily led by repetitive, crafty marketing slogans. No wonder so many geniuses voted for brexit or trump!

@@joeymacme agreed, such is the power of image and the image one wishes to convey to others. I must admit VAG cars seem well finished and attractive but perhaps this is a classic example of style over substance. Indeed personally I draw parallels between them and Apple, who interfered with people's phones in order to increase sales of replacements. Moreover I dislike the closed market they operate, whereby the customer is obliged to buy further products from them to ensure compatibility, or so I believe. I can't really see how this relates to Trump or Brexit though?

I work next door to what was a huge car supermarket, Imperial Cars (now its Cazoo). About 80% of the cars they sold were 2 to 4 year old BMWs and Mercedes.

@@MrDuncl I work for another large car supermarket company, and they only buy stock in that they know the sheep will buy, mainly Mercedes Benz A class or Golfs.

​@@daveyboiyeah Does being a Golf driver make me a sheep ? When reading reviews the Golf was described as a car you bought with your head not your heart. In a different video people were discussing why brands like BYD aren't doing better. Simple. They have no track record so people will steer clear. There has also been a history in the U.K. of brands like Daewoo and Proton appearing in a blaze of glory then disappearing. In contrast a schoolfriends Mother had a Mercedes in the early 1970s.

Especially after Dieselgate. Just goes to show the power of image and branding, same with Apple, after tampering with people's phones they still buy 'em.

I think Ford's strategy is based almost entirely on the North American market. Elsewhere in the world, they just see how it plays out.

@@DrWhom so not enough scope for sales overseas?

Renault sales very well in Italy too

Manufacturers, like Ford have the stupid idea that they can sell a "world car". The last Mondeo / Fusion was too big for Europe and too small for the U.S.A. I like to point out that Americans think an F150 is a small truck (which is why there is an F250 for people wanting a medium sized one).

Exactly what I was thinking, the B5 Passat (and Golf IV) were such a step above previous generation that really VW forward to have a quality feel on par with Audi. I think this happened also with Audi A4 B8 generation in 2008 (you see a jump in the share of audi sales). One and a half decade later a brand new A4 (apart from the design and infotainment) drives pretty much the same as a B8, that's how good the B8 was. Similar thing maybe happened with the F30 3-series.

@@100brsta I drive a 2013 Golf. I recently test drove a Kia Niro and was very surprised by how noisy it was inside (about the same as a first generation Ford Ka which of course was a very cheap car).

@@MrDuncl Don't buy a Korean car. Just trust me, don't. They're not well engineered AT ALL. You're much better off with a Japanese car, like a Toyota.

​@@MrDuncla golf 8 is about the same level of noise as golf 3 so its not that great

Some of it is the expense/cost; some of it is the population growth. Population in Europe grew reasonably quickly from the 1950s until the early 1990s... which means few net new drivers after 2010. Relative to average income, cheap cars in the UK are (slightly) less expensive today than they were in 1990 (and much less expensive than they were in the 1970s).

@@dlevi67 well, the same thing can't be said from the place where I live (Portugal). I remember when a B-segment car used to cost 10K to 12k during the 00s, but now you have to spend 20k or even more. In terms of economy, my country is stagnant since the turn of the millennium, so power purchase didn't really improve. Even though my current salary is slightly above the Portuguese mean, I still struggle a bit and if I want to buy a new car (without any loan) I'll have to save as much money as possible for the next 4 years 😅 (I currently save 20%, so I can have a small financial cushion). But maybe in 3 years I can buy a 2022 or 2023 car with the money I've gathered (I'm looking for a small car, like a Corsa, Yaris or a Sandero Stepway)

Dacia have you covered. It would be interesting if @Big Car did a video on the average price of a car. I do know that in 1984 a new Ford Escort was 1/5th the price of a new two bed house (which is what I bought). The exact same house recently sold for £217000.

Same with Peugeot too, notice them rocket with the launch of the 206.

I wouldn't call Ford's sales 'strong'.

@@playlist9980 I get your drift, they're not strong but they're average, just like their cars. What I meant was that without Brits blindly buying Fords like everyone does a German premium car in Europe, Ford would be a lot lower on the chart

In Denmark, Ford Transit Custom is the 3rd best selling car - not VAN but CAR. That might explain a bit. But I did like some versions of the Max and some of their newest models do look cool. We have a transit custom and I am happy with it even though I was not a Ford guy. But as vans go this is my favourit.

I took a look, and it's hard getting good consistent data (e.g. some sources include truck sales, some don't).

Hyundai/KIA together would be there but this is BRANDS. With DACIA & NISSAN then Renault would be higher.

@@kbtred51 no I mean there's plenty of examples on the road 🙂

The French were involved lmao

@@SomeOne_86 That was way before the French came into play. 2001 saw a huge decline when better alternatives came along. Back in the 80's, and 90's, British people had mainly a choice of Ford, Vauxhall or British Leyland, Then it all started the die out when other brands became affordable and diesels came.

they all rusted off that's why they all disappeared xD

As a Ford fan myself had to admit their current line up suck. and with Fiesta ceased production and Focus likely to follow....it's not looking great at the moment...

@@GjordDeLad05 Don't worry. You'll soon get a VW EV with a Ford badge slapped on the front. Actually if they also slap some usable climate controls on the dashboard Ford could have a winner on their hands.

@@MrDuncl there's literally no VW where I live, other than 60's - 70's Beetle or Combis. Only EV we got now are either Hyundai or some Chinese brand.... I'll just stick with my Mk VII Fiesta till EV eventually took over the world..

@@GjordDeLad05 Which country are you in ? The VW comment was because Ford are basing their Fiesta / Puma replacement on the VW ID3s mechanics. Here in the U.K. You can't get away from VAG. Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Cupra Only Stellantis has more brands and at least you won't mistake a Jeep for a Vauxhall.

@@MrDuncl Indonesia, VW was long gone here I don't think we even got to see Mk1 Golf or Polo being sold even though Polo probably gonna be a hit. there's occasionally newer VW or Audi imported here and there but you can count how much you see on the road with your fingers in a month. probably as rare as seeing Peugeot, Renault or Citroen in the US....

Why don’t you do it then and present your findings…

Yup, or as I call Stellantis - the club of losers. ;)

😂

It's expected, they made the most reliable diesel cars, and considering they dominated diesel in the 00's and 10's, makes complete sense.

I guess that’s why they only got the hybrid Civic this time.

Generally speaking (and with few exceptions) europeans buy european cars - despite most japanese or korean cars sold in Europe being manufactured IN Europe, too!

@@xp50player If you saw how cars and fuel are taxed you would want a Hybrid. Every car review goes on about "Benefit in Kind" despite that only applying to company cars. My 2.2 litre GM Vectra was literally priced off the road by high road tax which ended up costing more than the car was worth. Having said that the Tesla Model 3 is easily outselling the Honda Civic. Having bought the car taxes are minimal. A friends son was recently told he had to have a Tesla as his company car for both tax and image reasons.

@@MrDuncl Forcing people to buy electric cars is vomit inducing. Even more so when you find out they're far worse for the environment compared to combustion cars 🤦

Untill recently bigger cars were sold here with diesel engines. Honda and other Japanese brands had hardly any good diesel engines and that's why they never sold well in Europe (especially for the fleet market).

When they launched the Adam i thought this could be the car that turn thing around. The name is a bad choice, the looks decent though.

Now they are just restyled Peugeots.

But now at least they are profitable again.

@@MrDuncl So an A3 is a restyled Golf or a Gold is a restyled A3?

The Opel decline started way before they bought them (10 years), Koreans arrived with European styled cars, Mercedes and BMW started to sell 1 series and A class hatchback. When PSA bought GM Europe (Opel) they were a brand to be closed like GM have done with Saab and other US brands... if no one invested in Opel and cleaned the house today Opel was a brand from the past. Opel was using PSA underpins and started to build their SUVs in PSA factories before PSA take over. They started to launch new products but their SUVs aren't attractive enough. Now if we compare the design, the platform and the engines we have in the Corsa F compared to the Corsa E we understand why Opel started to decline before and not after. A brand like Opel can't be recovered from a 20 years decline and losses in the year of acquisition. Now they need to adapt.

the same as Citroen - not even in top-10

Many longtime loyal customers disliked the fact that Opel essentially turned into rebadged PSA cars. And that may be its downfall unless they get independent again. I find it sad too, as I've always liked that brand, but they definitely started going down after the 2008 economic downfall. Newer cars of them still have fairly reliable mechanics, but they feel cheap inside and not as well thought out as they used to be in the 90's for example.

What killed Opel Vauxhall was a series of terrible engines from about 1990 onwards.They built good durable cars, propelled by bad unreliable engines often designed in the USA

It sells less but the brand is more profitable

What they meant was that Opel/Vauxhall became profitable for the first time in decades. They were selling well but they were losing money. PSA came around and made Opel more efficient, fired lots of useless people, and started making cars based on Peugeot's platforms to reduce costs.

In volume terms a successful budget model will shift the position. Astra/500/Panda/Mini/A/Ka/C3/Golf/Superb/3008/Aygo

Especially here in Croatia. VAG diesels EVERYWHERE. As Toyota, Lexus and Mazda fan it's kinda sad. Only recently have I been seeing bit more Toyotas as some people are slowly moving away from diesels thankfully. Lexus I can count on fingers of one of my hands how many times I saw one IRL...

@@Miha23_ Isto i kod nas u Srbiji haha. Jebem ti TDI traktore, ne znam sta je tu toliko privlacno ljudima

​@@SomeOne_86Čisto škrtarenje na gorivu. Dizel mi toliko i ne smeta ako netko kao moj otac vozi cca. 20k-30k kilometara godišnje, treba mu veliki automobil i radi nekih 30-40 min od doma vožnjom brzom cestom. Za to je dizel ok. On rijetko ide u centar grada i izbjegava općenito vožnju u gradu (ne krivim ga). No kad vidim ove klošare u njihovim Polo i Golf TDI kantama kaj voze punih 10k-12k kilometara godišnje pozli mi. A, oni nikada neće kupiti nešto što nije iz predivne nam Njemačke (najbolja država na svijetu kao što svi znamo /s)...

Not only did renault ruin Nissan, they also stole all their technology and put it into their cars. I'm pretty sure one of their racecars uses the VR38 engine from the GT-R, and they market it as their own, which is actually vomit inducing.

No Renault don't ruin or destroy Nissan nor stole anything, Nissan was ruined when Renault bought part of them and recover the brand in 1999. Stop hate speech and nonsense misinformation. The truth is, Nissan was near bankruptcy in late 90s, Renault bought almost 40% of them and started to recover after that time. In Europe Nissan used Renault platforms in almost every essencial model to sell in Europe. Give me an example of Nissan tech in Renault cars apart from the 3.5 V6 used in Velsatis?

@@carlosgilpinheiro7510 Yes and why did they go bankrupt? Because of their insane quality control... Which renault proceeded to destroy. Here are some stolen engines for you my not very intelligent friend: MR16DDT, MR18DE, MR18DDT, MR20DE, MR20DD, M9R, M9T, HR14DET, HR15DE, HR16DE, HR12DDV, HR12DDT/HRA2, HR10DE, HR10DET, HR10DDT, VQ23DE, VQ25DE, VQ35DE... There are more of these "regular" engines. But the most offensive one is the VR38DETT, the masterpiece engine from the R35 GT-R, which renault USED ON THEIR RACECAR. If you think that renault is a good and honorable company you're not very smart. The french have never been good engineers and that is a fact you can see everywhere, all french car manufacturers are lacking behind everyone else in engine technology. The only thing they were ever good at were diesel engines, but renault noticed Nissan's M series diesels were better than their own, so they stole them and used them in renaults. And the amount of engineering developments and manufacturing techniques which Nissan developed over DECADES were also surely stolen, with no compensation to the original creators.

@@carlosgilpinheiro7510 Renault should have let Nissan die honourably, rather than slowly like they are now. Nissan was known for popular, reliable cars and great engines for its long life up to the 90s. Now with Renault at the helm, they have boring, 'white goods' vehicle lines, plagued with quality issues and engine problems with shared Renault designs. As a lifelong fan and owner of Datsun and Nissan products, t's like watching your favourite pet struggling to get around with arthritic joints, poor eyesight and in pain. Let them go in peace. The Renault diesel engines suffer camchain failures at crazy low km, the newer version suffers rear main oil seal failures. None of the genuine Nissan Japan engines I've used over the 40 years I've been driving have ever had a failure of any kind, even racing in rallying.

@@carlosgilpinheiro7510 The 3.5 isn't even entirely Nissans, it was a joint development between Renault and Nissan. The first thing they actually did together as part of their alliance and then launched in 2000. The Vel Satis received the engine when it was launched in 2001, but prototype cars already had it in 2000. Then the 350Z, which everyone associates that engine with , didn't appear till mid 2002 when that car was launched.

It would be interesting to do a chart of profitability, which is what each company is focused on at the end of the day.

@@BigCar2 I would very much love to see such a video. Regardless I have a feeling that the German Car Makers + Toyota will end up leading that chart.

@@BigCar2 Well one thing I know is that Opel did 20 years of financial loss since 1999, and GM couldn't turn around that, which is why they pulled the plug from European markets and sold Opel/Vauxhall to PSA. One interesting tidbit I recall reading from somewhere that GM used Opel's design facilities for their own cars, without paying Opel from that. So Opel had to basically rely on their own products to cover their overall expenses.

@@d-d-i Interesting. Are you saying that GM Europe was losing money because of the Accounting Procedures of General Motors? Or did that simply make the losses even worse? Regardless it's quite telling that both Fiat & PSG had partnerships with General Motors at various points in their history...only to end them and combine with Chrysler to form Stellantis. Perhaps the solution to GM Europe's Profitability issues was to buy up Fiat & PSA?

@@BigCar2 BY COMPANY GROUP as meaningless for a Brand.

Misubishi Electric No.1 No Misubishi Motor Renault

Glad someone dares to be different

@@stevenjoy3537 Thanks Steve. The G has been fine tbh. Five years in now. 😅

The charts are for cars sales and running ones not for cars that spends 99% of time been repaired on a shop 😅 (joke)

@@PapaSchultz74 Watch your own yard Yankee 🥲

What about Reliant? 😅

Already been done on this very channel

I did a history of Vauxhall, but there's a lot of good information about Opel's rise & demise there as from the late 1970s Vauxhall only sold Opel designed vehicles.

GM has always banned Opel from selling cars outside Europe. In the current global car world with world players, the playing field is then very small to remain competitive.

@@BigCar2 Yes I know the aforementioned video I watched it but it was more Astra and Vauxhall centric But of course you would need other solid reasons to make a video about the rest of the brand While you already have alot of other videos to work-on which is understandable. Have a good day.

Not if you counted Peugeot and Citroen as one company which they really are they would be way further up the chart. Very interesting though, thank you

I feel that Ford haven't done enough to adapt to the trend towards SUVs in Europe. Likewise the European Market is simply too competitive for a company like Ford of Europe to compete in. Those are some of the reasons why Ford have struggled in Europe of late.

It is strange how the Focus lost its Focus. The first gen was truly different from anything on the road. The latest just blends in with Kia Ceeds etc. I also wonder how badly Ecoboom engines hit their sales. Reading of engines exploding in flames probably hit sales more than reading about VAGS excessive emissions (which were probably no different from cars from a few years earlier anyhow).

Ford need to bring back the Model T 😂

Good question. At one point I read that the Citroen C1 (with low monthly repayments) was by far their best selling car. You wouldn't get any Audi for even twice the price.

Yaris country

@@DrWhom corolla and avenisis

@@DrWhom ford focus 1.6d country*

22k so far! 🤣

@@deanosaur808 My man Big Car is getting there. I see lots of potential

@@refusist he's already there judging by the amount of patreons he has 😉 I wouldn't have to work again if I had that kind of income, and it would pay a mortgage on my London flat too 🤯 I'm definitely doing something wrong in my career 🤔😅

@@refusist oops wrong channel! 🤭i was thinking of another channel with over 4000 patreons. My bad 😅 Anyway I wasn't being critical of the channel, the other videos on this channel get more views 🥳

See message below 🤭

Germans are high enough and are even higher if you graph by value as german cars are overall more expensive.

2021 was a weird year with supply shortages, so don't read too much into where everyone ends up.

And now they are going all in on SUVs things will not get more exciting.

Modern cars are so much better looking than the 80s and 90s virtually identical cars.

@@andrewcocos sorry to disagree, but you could virtually change the front and rear boot badges on most cars these days and most people would be none the wiser. Escort RS turbo, Sierra Xr4i, Sierra Cosworth, RS focus and ST200/24 Mondeo. Cars that had a distinctive look and got the adrenaline flowing. its the reason a 35 year old sierra Cosworth goes for £70k plus on ebay. Cars today all look the same and are all either black, white or silver.

@@insertnamehere5146 Rear - to some extent. Front - not really, because of the introduction of LED lights, so there is more variety in looks, especially with DLR on. Apart from that, aerodynamics is aerodynamics...

Not sure I can turn them off. But yes, agreed.

​@@BigCar2 what software did you use to animate the data?

BMW 'Volume' is MINI & 1/2 series derivatives

Quite some time ago the BMW 3 series started to outsell the Ford Mondeo. Mondeo = Rep mobile / Mondeo Man. BMW = something to aspire to and show people you had moved beyond the latter. With PCP people could afford to.

I expected to see more Mercedes volume in this chart TBH.

Mercedes is doing really well. Their cars are very reasonably priced currently and are a step above VAG and BMW id argue in terms of being comfortable daily drivers.

From Autocar "The German car maker is not abandoning the compact car segment completely, though. In the future, it intends to concentrate production around successor models to today’s Mercedes-Benz CLA saloon (and CLA Shooting Brake), Mercedes-Benz GLA and Mercedes-Benz GLB, according to the Handelsblatt report." I also wonder how the Smart #1 fits into their plans. Will we see a Mercedes equivalent ?

Fiat's problem is that all of their models apart from the new 500e are outdated in many ways.

They got out of car engineering and into financial engineering. Stellantis is still the second largest "European" car group (and number 5 globally). The last decent, innovative Fiat was the first generation of the Multipla (1998), IMHO. The rest have been "replays", or - like the Giulia - have gone to other brands in the group.

@@dlevi67 I really liked the fiat 500, Punto and bravo combination they had in the mid 00's.

@@luizarthurbrito Yep, but the Punto is (was) a 1993 car, the first generation of Bravo was launched in 1995 and it already felt like a rehash of the Tipo (and it didn't significantly change through its subsequent 'Stilo' and 'New Bravo' incarnations), and the 500 - while it's actually quite a nice car - it's very derivative of the 2000 "BMW" Mini and the original 1957 Fiat 500. And the line-up only shrunk in the next 15 years...

@@dlevi67 yeah, definitely. Fiat has been going backwards for decades. The last Punto and the 2007 bravo pleased me very much, design wise, although their platforms were old. After that, not even fiat's design pleased me.

Kia and Hyundai are absolutely not decent, they're low quality, badly engineered cars. And they cost pretty much the same as Japanese cars, which really begs the question why would anyone buy one of those...

Sir,I have to disagree. Hyundai has come a long way since coming to North America. Toyota is pricing themselves out of the market . Guess you haven't been on I-85 between Atlanta and Montgomery,AL where Hyundai and Kia have assembly plants.Or Brunswick,GA where a good chunk of European (and Asian) cars enter the States. I own a Hyundai product and am very satisfied.

Europeans seems to prefer Euro cars. Japanese cars sell really well outside of Europe.

@@_B.M_ I don't get it I see japanese cars where ever I go. Feels like it's always been this way.

Not really: Look at Toyota nowadays

@@LarsAgerbk That's because they last ;) They're everywhere, but there's no need to buy new ones every 5 years ;) (I'm kidding, I have two SEAT-s, 20 and 10 years old ;))

Japanese cars are expensive for what you get. In the U.K. there are also quite a few used imports (I saw a whole car transporter load of used Japanese Priuses coming from the docks last week). The Toyota range is also limited. We won't be getting the new Prius while no dealer can tell me if we will be getting the Corolla Cross (which I would seriously consider as my next car).

Previous video title (in the video) was wrong and confusing people.

Peugeot and Citroen have always been the same, the ZX was their variant of the 306, the Saxo, the 106, C2, the 206, C4 the 307 etc. Nothing has changed, Citroen has just being less innovative and making less serious cars it seems. Remember when the C5 gained some balls in 2008 and the C4 Coupe was groundbreaking and striking to look at, and not to mention WRC success. These days they're just soft bubbles with tiny petrols.

Maybe under the tenuous guise of Renault

To be fair. Only the Americans ended up succeeding in breaking the European Market and even the only Ford managed it without any Takeovers.

In the uk, Toyota, Nissan, Kia and Hyundai all make the top 10, and our Opel equivalent Vauxhall does as well.

@@Kenny_P_abz Nissan I can understand (alongside Kia, Hyundai & Toyota) due to the historic popularity of said cars in the UK. I'm surprised how popular Vauxhall still is however.

@@MrSmith1984 Well, nissan and honda always had a foothold in the UK considering they make their cars there.

I guess not, same way as VW sales does not include Audi ones.

EU includes the UK. It's car sales. Includes all imports.

@@BigCar2 Europe includes Russia (barely anyone lives outside of the European part), Belarus, Ukraine, Norway, Switzerland, even Iceland (not a big market, wouldn't make a difference). Some consider Turkey to be in Europe. None of those are in the EU. So the question is very valid :) Inclusion of Russia would presumably help Renault, because they brand what we know as Dacias as Renaults there. I heard they're big on BMWs too ;)

Problem was that the quality of the cars were so bad. My dad only had Opels from the early sixties following his fathers tradition of buying Opel Rekords since the early fifties, but he gave up after his Opel Omega 1992 model. It was really breaking up by 1997 and just 60 000 km on the meter. Switched to Volvos after that, never looking back.

@@gunnarmonell7253 That's surprising to hear. From my personal experience, first gen Omegas were very well made cars.

They don't include Dacia.

@@BigCar2 Unless sold as a Renault in some markets, including Nissan/Datsun

Well, you can.

They came galloping in without a pony. a stellar performance 😂

Sorry - a mistake. It may say 2020 at the end, but it's 2021 data. I can't yet find data for 2022.