BMW took back lost ground from the previous year, now well ahead combined with MINI. Volvo didn't have a good year, Tesla and Lexus likewise. Land Rover clawed back some of the share it conceded in 2019. Polestar arrived but too early to see what impact that new brand will have.
Data source: FEBIAC.
The size of the Belgian premium market segment is huge, but success in Belgium is very dependent on meeting the market demands given its heavy taxation regime (moderate max output, meaning tuned down diesels).
ReplyDeleteVolvo pretty much exited this market by not offering any more its perfectly tailored D3 engine, basically putting itself next to Lexus for the larger cars (XC60, V90).
They have been living on D3 stock cars for most of the year (which is unusual to them, given that their factory is in Belgium), and now there is a sort of substitute (the B3 engine), but it is not suited for the larger cars, and not even offered above the V60 models.
Considering that Belgium is Volvos 5th-6th largest market worldwide, this was quite a weird thing they did.
I guess this decision you mention Volvo made with a global strategy in mind.
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