As the hinterland of the global auto industry, Europe has finally ushered in a rebound after several years of downturn. In the first half of 2023, the sales of new cars in 28 European countries reached 6.56 million, an increase of 976,000 units compared to the first half of 2022. A year-on-year increase of 17%, but also 1.86 million and 2.13 million units less than the same period in 2019 and 2018.

  And often there will be a reshuffle in the overall fluctuations of the market. Today, let’s review the European auto market in the first half of 2023.

  The picture above shows the five brands with the largest increase in market share and the five brands with the largest decline in market share in the first half of the year in Europe. Among them, Tesla, MG and Skoda, the top three in terms of market share growth, increased their shares by 1.3%, 0.77% and 0.55% respectively ; while the five brands that fell the most were Fiat, Kia, Hyundai, Peugeot and Citroen, Korean and French cars performed poorly.

  Let's focus on the two biggest winners, Tesla and MG.

 

Tesla

  In the first half of 2019, Tesla’s share in Europe was only 0.54%, but now it has reached 2.82%. In the first half of the year, it sold 185,000 new cars in Europe, a year-on-year increase of 117%, ranking sixteenth.

  At the same time, Model Y sold 136,000 units in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 204%, becoming the number one model on the list.

  The reason for Tesla’s success is naturally the smooth start of production at the Berlin factory in May 2022. The supply of cars has increased while prices have dropped. For example, the price of a Tesla Model 3 in Germany is similar to that of a Volkswagen ID.3, both at 41,000 The Volkswagen ID.4 starts at about 50,000 euros, while the rear-drive Model Y only costs about 45,000 euros.

 

MG

  Compared with Tesla's factory in Germany, MG is all exported to Europe. It sold 104,000 vehicles in the first half of the year, and its brand share increased from 0.82% to 1.59%. For further growth, MG is also considering building factories in Europe.

  MG's success comes from two aspects. On the one hand, as a former British brand, it still has a good reputation in Europe; on the other hand, SAIC is backed by China's industrial chain, rich talents and brutal market competition.

  Except for MG, the performance of other Chinese brands in Europe is not impressive. According to JATO data, during the period from January to June 2023, among the 26 Chinese-made cars sold in Europe, the registration volume is 43,101. The share is only 0.66%, and of course it is also growing rapidly. It was 0.43% in the same period last year. Including MG, Chinese OEMs had a market share of 2.25%, or 147,394 units. Of course, in the absence of a local factory, it is already very good to achieve such a result. In addition to MG, BYD is also considering building a factory in Europe, and France is one of the possible countries.

  Overall, under the background of rapid electrification in Europe, the growth is basically the brand with more radical electrification, while the electrification of Korean cars, French cars and Italian brands (including HEV) is relatively slow.