The global new-car and light commercial vehicle (LCV) market grew by 2.4% in 2017, to 86.05-million units, compared with 2016, according to data released by UK automotive business intelligence group JATO Dynamics.
“The automotive market performed well in 2017, with established economies maintaining growth, while developing markets like Russia and Brazil returned to growth following declines last year,” says JATO global analyst Felipe Munoz.
India continued its rapid growth trajectory, with the country posting an increase of 8.8%, meaning it could soon overtake Germany, which grew by a modest 2.8%. As a result, India could soon leapfrog Germany to become the fourth largest automotive market in the world.
Sports-utility vehicles (SUVs) contributed significantly to the automotive industry’s strong performance in 2017, accounting for the largest market share in China, North America and Europe – the three largest sales regions in the world.
The subcompact was the most popular segment in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, while city-cars secured the largest market share in Japan, demonstrating that there is still scope for the SUV to grow as its popularity spreads.
SUVs reached a new record market share in 2017, accounting for 34% of the total market.
Results for the 52 markets analysed by JATO show that 27.85-million SUVs were sold in 2017 – 3.14-million units more than 2016, which is a 12.7% increase.
Compact SUVs accounted for almost 40% of total SUV sales.
The continued dominance of the SUV meant sales of traditional segments continued to decline, with compact cars, midsize sedans, wagons and multipurpose vehicles impacted the most.
Compact cars registered 14.92-million sales, a decline of 4.5% on the previous year, which can be attributed to reduced demand in the big five markets, and in China, which has succumbed to the SUV boom.
City-car sales continued to grow, largely as a result of demand in the Japanese market, which posted a 14.4% increase on last year.
Pickups also posted strong results, as demand in North America remained strong and their popularity increased in Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.
The Ford-F Series was once again the world’s best-selling car, as it further exerted its dominance over the Toyota Corolla, which came in second. As usual, the Ford-F Series took the top spot as a result of strong US demand, which accounted for 80% of its total volume.
The Volkswagen Golf came in third.
The Nissan X-Trail/Rogue was the world’s best-selling SUV and the overall fourth best-selling vehicle, selling 814 000 units in 2017.
In terms of fuel types, estimated data shows that petrol cars and LCVs continued to dominate the market in 2017, with a 72.5% market share.
Sales of diesel cars dropped by 3.7%, owing to declining sales in Europe.
Pure electric car and LCV sales reached 668 000 units in 2017, an increase of 78.4%.
Hybrid sales reached 2.51-million units – a record – partly due to strong growth in China, India and Europe.
Plug-in hybrid sales reached 417 300 units, an increase of 62.5%.