If you’re between the ages of 16 & 35 you’re likely to hold the view that the petrol/diesel car that most of us drive today is heading for oblivion. And you’ve already subscribed to the narrative that the electric car is the answer, well you may have to rethink that plan as the fossil fuelled automobile as we know isn’t going away from the global market just yet.

2013 marked the first year in automobile history that new vehicle sales throughout the world exceeded 84-million. China counted for around a quarter of those sales and overall the volume was an increase of 4% from the previous year.

In 2016 global sales were up again and registered over 88-million sales for cars and light vehicles. Then in 2017 that number increased again by over 3%. In fact, since 2010 the world’s car companies have seen 8-years of consecutive sales growth as the global recovery began post the Financial Crisis (GFC).

However, the 2018 sales volumes have come off that peak of 2017 and the reason they have slowed last year is down to a number of different market factors.

China is one reason, some Western European countries have struggled, examples would be Italy, Spain, Turkey, the Middle East and of course the US sanctions against Iran. The results for Saudi Arabia and UAE have also disappointed as well as a number of South American countries facing difficulty like Argentina hit by economic turmoil.

On the upside things are looking healthier for the car companies from 2019 and onwards. Predictions are that inside the next 10-years they will see car sales surpass the 100-million mark.

China’s market potential remains huge, while economic growth continues to slow, this continues at fairly enviable levels by most normal standards. The other bigger markets like Brazil, Russia and India are also predicted to be on a recovery path to increase car and light vehicle sales.

So back to the question at the top, who ranks in the top ten and likely to cash in on all these potential sales coming in over the 10 years? These rankings may surprise you.
 

Ranking:	Market Share:	Car Company:	Established:
1	11.6%	Volkswagen Group	Founded 1937
2	11.2%	Toyota Motor Corporation	Founded 1937
3	11.1%	The Nissan Renault Group	Founded 1999
4	9.2%	General Motors Company	Founded 1908
5	7.9%	Hyundai/Kia Automotive Group	Founded 2000
6	6.0%	Ford Motor Company	Founded 1903
7	5.6%	Honda Motor Company	Founded 1946
8	5.2%	Fiat Chrysler Automobiles	FCA founded 2014
9	4.4%	PSA Peugeot/Citroen	PSA founded 1974
10	3.5%	Suzuki Motor Corporation	Founded 1909
Ranking footnotes:
1. There are many different published ranking lists around so it depends on what you measure. 2. With this list, we have tried to calculate on the global market share, give or take a percentage point or two. 3. This leaves around 24.3% of the market available to all the other car companies to fight over. 4. Electric Vehicles (EV’s) account for just over 2% of the global the new car sales market.

 
April 2019