After the very good performance of the automobile market in January 2019, where Portugal was one of the European countries with the best percentage growth rate in the EU market, sales of new cars in Portugal fall again in February 2019.
In view of the values achieved in February 2018, the number of enrollments decreased by 9.3% for passenger cars and 6.4% for light commercial vehicles.
This fact places the accumulated values in the red, with emphasis on passenger cars (-2.1%).
Among the reasons that may help explain this fact are the purchases made in January (which were canceled from the previous year to obtain more recent registrations), the late Easter (delaying the purchases of Rent-a-Car) and because February 2018 it was a particularly extraordinary month for the brands' sales force, having been the 4th best month of 2018 in terms of volume.
Effect new enrollments?
There may be yet another psychological factor that has delayed purchases by some consumers, confirmed to FM (Fleet Magazine) by some sellers: a change in enrollment formulation.Subscribe to our newsletter
In fact, February enrollment entered the letter “X” cycle . Once the alphabet is finished, there will now be four letters and two numbers, as opposed to the four numbers and two letters in force to date.
Looking at the data, it is observed:
- Passenger light registrations in February 2019: 18 858 units (-9.3%)
- Light commercial registrations (idem): 2621 units (-6.4%)
- Total registrations of light vehicles (idem): 21,479 units (-9.0%)
- Accumulated passenger light registrations for 2019: 34 542 units (-2.1%)
- Light commercial registrations (idem): 5536 units (6.2%)
- Total registrations of light vehicles (idem): 40,078 units (-1%)
Top 10 brands, february enrollment , passenger cars:
- Renault
- Peugeot
- citron
- Mercedes-Benz
- BMW
- opel
- Fiat
- SEAT
- Volkswagen
- nissan
Top 10 brands, february enrollment , light commercials:
- Renault
- Peugeot
- citron
- Fiat
- Ford
- Toyota
- Mercedes-Benz
- opel
- Iveco
- Volkswagen
Top 10 brands, accumulated value , passenger cars:
- Peugeot
- Renault
- Mercedes-Benz
- citron
- opel
- BMW
- Fiat
- SEAT
- Volkswagen
- nissan
Top 10 brands, accumulated value , light commercials:
- Renault
- Peugeot
- citron
- Fiat
- Ford
- Toyota
- Mercedes-Benz
- opel
- Mitsubishi
- Iveco
Highlights
- 109 registered Tesla units, a monthly price higher than brands such as Alfa Romeo, Lexus, Jaguar, Land Rover, Suzuki…
- Hyundai's very expressive rise in February (50.9%), in the accumulated result for the first two months, it almost doubled the number of registrations of passenger cars compared to the same period of the previous year (+ 91%).
- Continued ascent of the Jeep which, although it only made 241 registrations in the first two months, this represents a growth of 141%.
- Citroën's break in commercials, as well as Opel's, and Peugeot's rise of just 0.8% in this segment. These three brands share the same model (Berlingo, Combo and Partner, respectively), the commercial variant with the highest sales in the class. Could the fact that this new model is Class 1 only with Via Verde be conditioning greater acceptance of the new generation?
- Although Renault is the brand with the most registrations in both segments (February 2019), in the aggregate it remains at 287 Peugeot units (light passengers). This fact means that Renault has dropped its market share of light vehicles by more than two points: from 13.87% to 11.12%.
These are the tables with the number of car registrations in Portugal in February 2019.
Consult Fleet Magazine for more articles on the automotive market.