Greece Passenger Car Sales : 2026 (Jan-Feb)

Registrations were up 2% in February but down 2% YTD or two months. Toyota is miles ahead despite a slight stumble so far. Citroën and Opel have done well so far and both have headed up the chart to second and third respectively.

Data source: SEAA. Photo Citroën (e-C3) Greece. 

Bosnia-Herzegovina Passenger Car Sales : 2026 (Jan-Feb)

Registrations were up 4% YTD to 1,494. Škoda took just over 1 in 5 of them. Toyota closed the gap but is miles behind. Renault has had two months to forget but Opel has found a new lease of life.

Data source: Proauto. Photo source: 

Serbia Passenger Car Sales : 2026 (Jan-Feb)

Registrations were up 6% YTD to 3,571. Škoda secured a quarter of those, which is impressive. Chery has pushed up to third place and to think it was 30th back in 2023. Renault and VW have both suffered so far this year.

Data source: Serbian Association of Vehicle and Parts Importers and Cube Team.

Photo source: Chery Srbija.

Aston Martin Global Deliveries : 2022-25

Aston Martin is a marque of distinction, not hurt by its connection with the most famous of secret agents. It has also been a company that historically found profitability to be elusive.

A car company that low volume and labour intensive needs to charge for the exclusivity and quality. There are only so many people buying such cars and there are several companies vying for the same customers.

To the right are quarterly deliveries for the past four years. They have been very consistent with Q4 always giving an upward spike in volume. 

2025 was no exception although the last two quarters were down the most. Aston Martin is focused on a sound business model rather than chasing volume to look good. That's the challenge. 

Regions: All the regions are down with Asia/Pacific being the largest amount. China would be the main reason, but relying on that market is increasingly challenging for many reasons. Aston Martin has to deal with tariffs and consumption taxes that exist around the world and these are getting worse, not better. 

Every country claims to be a champion of fair trade but for many countries it is nothing more than hypocritical posturing. Sometimes trade has to be regulated to balance the books but at other times manipulated to selfishly generate large trade surpluses. This is something that hurts companies like Aston Martin.  

 

Models: All models had similar falls in volume. 152 units of the Valhalla were delivered in Q4 of 2025 and hopefully a further 500 in 2026. The Vanquish Volante, DBX S, Vantage S and Volante 60th Anniversary models are all now available. The DB12 S is planned for the first half of 2026. Plenty of things happening then. 

Lamborghini Production : 2024-25

Ferruccio Lamborghini had a successful business as a tractor manufacturer, and owned a Ferrari and when he complained about a faulty clutch to Enzo Ferrari. Enzo told him to stick to tractors. Instead of sticking to tractors, Ferruccio decided to take on Ferrari. 

The fact is Lamborghini has lived under Ferrari's shadow but ownership by VW and being managed by Audi has brought Lamborghini out of the shadow. 

Production was down 19% after a 22% increase in 2024. The Urus SUV accounts for an impressive 73% of the meaque's total production The Huracán has been replaced by the Temerario but I kept them separate here. That transition may have affected production volume, but 2026 will clarify matters.

Lamborghin achieved a 24% operating profit margin in 2025, so a downturn in volume doesn't appear at this stage to have done any harm. 

Data source: VW Group. Photo source: Netcarshow (Temerario).

Bentley Production : 2024-25

Premium marques have taken a bit of a hit volumewise in recent times. China is no longer the boom market it was and of course, the USA is problematic. Still, a 7% fall in production isn't bad. Bentley is pushing more toward customisation than volume. 

The Continental made up 43% of total production, the Bentayga SUV 33% and the Flying Spur 23%. Deliveries were down 5% and interestingly profit was down just 1%. That shows that Bentley is handling difficult economic headwinds well.

Data source: VW Group.

Audi Brand Plant Production : 2024-25

Production was down just 3% after a notable drop of 14% in 2024. A new assembly facility in Malaysia has been added while plants Belgium and Brazil are retired. I thought the location in Malaysia was a nutty idea.  

Germany increased its contribution of total production, now up the 37%. There are seven plants in China but they are no longer broken down individually. China is no longer the largest producer of cars for Audi and one would suspect won't be in the future either.

Data & photo source: Audi. 

BMW Group Plant Production : 2024-25

Total production for the entire group was 2,456,500 units, down 2%. Nearly 44% of production was in Germany. 

China dropped three percentage points but still managed to make 600,000 cars in the three plants in that country.

A new production facility in Hungary is producing the new iX3. The contract plant in the Netherlands no longer produces vehicles for BMW. I believe the last cars made there were the MINI hatch and convertible. 

Data and picture source: BMW Group.

BMW MINI Model Deliveries : 2024-25

2025 restored MINI deliveries with an 18% increase registered for the year. The Clubman is no more but the Aceman has covered that vacancy nicely. The new 

5th generation Hatch and new 3rd generation Countryman then ramped up their volumes to provide the increase. 

I thought if MINI wanted a catch tune to add to the Aceman, they could choose Carole King's Jazzman. "Lift me, won't you lift me, above the old routine? Make it nice, play it clean, Aceman" then "Aceman, take my blues away". That's probably why I never worked in advertising.

Data & photo source: BMW Group. (Hatch & Aceman).

Rolls Royce Model Deliveries : 2024-25

Rolls Royce passed the 5,000 delivery mark in 2019 and ignoring 2020, has done so ever since. So 5-6,000 seems to be the level the marque is operating at. The 2024 profit was reportedly US$177 million but data on RR profit isn't overly available and may fluctuate for various reasons. 

The Cullinan leads the way with over half of deliveries attributed to the SUV. The electric Spectre had a nice start to its career in 2024 but 2025 was a return to reality. Are you watching JLR? 

The Wraith/Dawn combo ended in 2023, to make way for the Spectre. It wasn't a direct replacemnt though and may struggle to sell in equivalent numbers. Ahh, the electric car future that hasn't delivered as expected. 

Data source: BMW Group.

Škoda Model Production : 2024-25

Škoda made just over a million cars in 2025, up from 925,000. That's a 15% rise in volume. The leading model is the medium sized Octavia car, although unit production was down 13%. The medium to large size Kodiaq SUV closed the gap somewhat with a 14% increase. 

The small Elroq electric crossover and small Kylaq SUV were two models that joined the swelling ranks of models. The latter for the Indian market, joining the compact Slavia saloon car in that capacity. 

Data and photo source: Škoda (Fabia & Elroq).

So where are they made? Primarily in the Czech Republic, with 86% of the total. India's contribution is now 7%. and has passed Slovakia. Vietnam and Spain have just become new countries where Škodas are sourced. 

The 'Others' entry is for the SEAT/Cupra Ateca which Škoda makes in their behalf. They are siblings of the Karoq. I probably should have left them off the chart but it adds some additional information.

Škoda Global Deliveries : 2023-25

Škoda was founded 130 years ago in 2025. It was taken over by VW gradually from 1991 to 2000. It was then transformed into the successful brand it is today.

Škoda deliveries were up 13% in 2025. The main market is Germany and as Škoda is owned by VW, that's something that isn't lost on the car buyer there. The home market is next, followed by the UK. Deliveries in India have been moving up quickly and is now the fourth country on the list. 

Data & photo source: Škoda.

Regions. The reliance on Europe is clearly shown, with 82% of the total sales from there. 

The Writing Was on the Wall

Sergio Marchionne, the late CEO of FCA (Fiat Chrysler) criticised the car industry, highlighting its inefficiency and reluctance to adopt new technology which ultimately impacted profitability. He championed greater cooperation to reduce duplicated spending.

But like Ignaz Semmelweis, his insight was ignored. Cooperation requires compromise and that isn't a quality that gets industry leaders to the top. Their modus operandi is do it my way because compromise is weakness and we don't need to do it anyway. 

Whatever the reasons, it wasn't considered necessary to cooperative beyond sharing an engine or two and the odd fringe model. But the existing way of doing things is ponderous and wastefully burns cash. No one was really pressuring them to change as long as everyone did the same.

Things have moved quickly. The Chinese have finally got themselves sorted and they have things in their favour. A protected home market. High levels of tech included in the cars. Subsidized manufacturing. Control over key battery materials. Faster vehicle development times. Quickly implementing change when feedback showed where improvements were needed.

The less efficient and complacent legacy car manufacturers are being found out. They are cooperating more and will have to speed that up. Some of the larger car manufacturers already have cost sharing within their assorted brands but that might not be enough.

Companies like JLR don't have that option. They wouldn't consider cooperating with model sharing for Jaguar. Try buying one now to see how foolish that stance was. Land Rover will soon be hunted by a proliferation of Chinese models and I wonder how they will survive that. 

In times of change, relying on past experience is often your worst enemy. Clinging to outdated methods rather than adapt can be fatal. Past success doesn't guarantee future success, neither does a well respected brand name. The latter helps but only to a point.

The writing was on the wall and it's become a reality. Now's the time to be smart or be gone. That's the choice, but is it already too late for some? 

Photos: Soueast S05 above and Geely Galaxy Cruiser below (looks familiar?)