Motor1 Numbers: What cars we drove twenty years ago

How much has the European automotive market changed in the last 20 years? The industry has changed dramatically with the tightening of safety and emissions regulations, which has also had an impact on demand, but customers' preferences and manufacturers' offerings have also changed significantly.

A good way to examine the change is to compare European motorists' purchases in the first half of 2004 with those in the first six months of this year.

Small car kings 20 years ago

In the first half of 2004, small cars (including minicars and liftbacks) accounted for half of all new registrations in Europe. SUVs did not yet exist, so most people drove classic cars in the B and C segments, i.e. the Polo and Golf class.

The European top ten was made up exclusively of hatchback models. The most popular SUV at the time was the Toyota RAV4 in 42nd place. The top half was led by the Peugeot 206 (hatchback, CC and estate).

Today, four of the ten most popular cars in Europe are SUVs, with the Volkswagen T-Roc in fourth place. Meanwhile, small cars have lost a lot of ground. Their market share fell from 50.4 per cent in the first half of 2004 to 29.7 per cent in the first half of 2024, partly because there are simply fewer of them - just think of the end of the Ford Fiesta.

Their decline can also be explained by the boom in SUVs. While only 458,400 SUVs were registered in Europe twenty years ago, representing 5.5 per cent of the total market, the figures from January to June 2024 show that demand for these vehicles amounted to 3.58 million units or 52 per cent of the market. However, there are now also many small car SUVs such as the VW T-Cross or Opel-Vauxhall Mokka.

Other victims of SUV fever are vans (from 15.2% to 3.2%), estate cars (from 12.2% to 8.8%), saloons (from 10.5% to 3.7%) and sports cars (from 4.5% to 1.4%).

The ranking of car brands, H1 2004 vs. 2024

Another interesting fact from this period is that 20 years ago, it was not Volkswagen that led the brand ranking, but Renault with over 852,000 units. In H1 2024, the German brand is the market leader, but with 706,700 fewer units. Nevertheless, the Volkswagen brand's share rose from 9.5% in H1 2004 to 10.3% in H1 2024.

The ranking of the car groups, H1 2004 vs. 2024

At group level, the Volkswagen Group is in the lead with a market share of 18% (today it is almost 26%), followed by PSA with 14% (Peugeot, Citroën and DS currently have an 8.6% share of the total market) and Ford. This brand has plummeted in Europe: Ford's market share in the first half of 2004 was 11.3%, compared with 3.6% this year.

Best-selling cars in Europe, H1 2004 vs. 2024

The Volkswagen brand, Toyota, the three German premium brands Skoda, Hyundai and Kia and Dacia are the brands that have gained the most market share in Europe over the last 20 years, in addition to the recent successes of Tesla, Cupra and MG. Their growth has come at the expense of lower sales figures for Renault, Peugeot, Ford, Opel/Vauxhall, Citroën and Fiat.

Cars from 2004:

BMW 1 Series (2004-2011): Classic of the future?

Peugeot 407 (2004-2011): Classic of the future?

Only three models survived the 2004 top ten: the Peugeot 206 led the European car market that year and its successor, the Peugeot 208, is now the fifth best-selling model in Europe. The Volkswagen Golf took second place in 2004 and 2024.

The Renault Clio took fourth place in 2004 and third place this year. Ford, Fiat and Opel-Vauxhall no longer have models in the top ten and have been replaced by new models such as the Dacia Sandero, Skoda Octavia, Tesla Model Y and Toyota Yaris Cross.

 The author of the article, Felipe Munoz, is an automotive industry specialist at JATO Dynamics.