Segment ranking showed that SUVs were the largest drivers of growth, with its volume accounting for almost 29% of all cars, pickups and LCVs sold last year. The majority of these registrations were in the C-SUV subsegment, but the smallest subsegment (B-SUV) posted the highest growth of 28.0%.

SUVs have continued to take market share away from traditional segments, and this trend isn’t restricted to particular markets – it’s a trend that we’ve seen on a global scale and expect to continue in 2017.

—Felipe Munoz

Expansion of the car purchase restrictions policy in China caused a slowdown in the market at the beginning of the year. However, demand recovered during H2, with consistent monthly double-digit growth. 2016 was a mixed year for the US, with a decline in registrations in five of the twelve months. This resulted in the overall volume of registrations in 2016 increasing by just 0.4% compared to 2015.

Japanese car sales decreased by 1.6% compared to 2015, signalling a slowdown in the retraction of the industry when compared to the sharp fall of 9.5% seen in 2015. Tax increases on Kei-cars continued to impact the Japanese market in 2016, with city-cars posting a decline of 4.2%. The decline in registrations in Brazil was particularly dramatic, with 500,000 less units registered compared to the previous year. 2016’s total was a significant 45% lower than the record 3.63 million units posted in 2012.

The declines in these markets were offset by double-digit growth in China and Europe’s slow, consistent recovery. European car and LCV registrations totalled 17.1 million units, which is a significant increase of 7% on 2015.

In the emerging markets, India showed its strength with more than 3.3 million units sold as a result of growing prosperity and the greater availability of consumer credit. India’s growth offset losses in other emerging markets, and established India as a solid source of revenue for car manufacturers.