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Europe Big 5: loyalty to local carmakers drives choice in compact segment
In the UK, brands like Vauxhall, Ford, Mini and Land Rover still make use of their British DNA to promote their cars. Considering these facts, when looking at the compact passenger car segment in Europe’s big 5 markets, it’s clear that the loyalty to local carmakers still drives a big part of the choice.
The long standing leader VW Golf got a segment share of 29% in its native Germany, beating the segment shares achieved by its main competitors in their home lands. However, the Peugeot 308 wasn’t too far with 25% share in France. The Ford Focus ranked first in the UK, while the Opel Astra (which carries the Vauxhall brand in the UK) got an 8% share in both Germany and Spain. Nevertheless, the GM’s compact got its highest share in the UK. The other two French models, Renault Megane and Citroen C4, showed their big dependence on the French market with very low presence in Germany, UK and Italy. The Golf’s Spanish cousin, the Seat Leon, shined in Spain. Finally the Italian Alfa Romeo Giulietta played an important role in Italy only.
The Golf was the only model to post double-digit market share outside Germany and even leading the segment in Italy, above the Giulietta. In the case of the Focus, it has a very balanced segment penetration in all markets except for France where the loyalty to Renault and PSA products is quite strong. Actually last year half of the French C-Segment was controlled by them. The Leon, Megane, C4 and Giulietta are strongly dependent on their home markets.
