Audi, Hyundai and Land Rover the Winners of 2012 Auto Sales in Europe

Although European sales dropped in 2012 for the 5th consecutive year, with 8% to 12.6 million, Audi, Hyundai, Jeep and Land Rover managed to avoid the downward trend.

Due to their fresh models in hot segments, Audi, Jeep, Land Rover and Hyundai managed to avoid the downward trend in the European market. Land Rover reported sales up 35% to 100,698 units, mainly thanks to increased demand for the Range Rover Evoque, breaking its own European record for volume, also being the fastest growing brand in this market. After selling 50,000 Land Rover Evoque SUVs, the automaker expects the model to be a hot seller in 2013 too, besides the fourth-generation Range Rover which will be launched this year.

Jeep, which was the fastest growing brand in Europe in 2011, sold 28,263 units, up 19%, and was Fiat’s only source of profit as the Italian automaker reported a double-digit fall in this market last year. Kia was up 15% to 337,466 units, and Hyundai increased 9% to 432,240 units. Skoda also managed to post an increase of 2% to 491,951 units, the only volume brand to post positive sales after the Korean automakers.

Audi, which was the top-selling premium brand in Europe last year, sold 704,219 units, up 4%, followed by BMW with 641,083 units and Mercedes which fell 1% to 586,631 units.