Europeans are either tired of their old cars, or the effects of the cash for clunkers largesse are finally getting digested, or both. Whatever the reason, new passenger car registrations increased by 7.1 percent in the EU in May, as data released by the European Auto Manufacturers Association ACEA shows.
Year to date, registrations are now only 0.8 percent below the same period in 2010. If this trend continues, then 2011 can close with a slight increase. Which is needed, because 2010 was not a good year in Europe.
In May, a total of 1,208,583 new cars were registered in the EU. Registrations were up in Germany (+22.0 percent), France (+6.1 percent) and Italy (+3.6 percent), while the market contracted by 23.3 percent in Spain and 1.7 percent in the UK. Overall, most countries saw their demand for cars increase.
| January – May | |||||
| %Share | Units | Units | % Chg | ||
| ’11 | ’10 | ’11 | ’10 | 11/10 | |
| ALL BRANDS** | 5,885,631 | 5,933,738 | -0.8 | ||
| VW Group | 22.7 | 21.0 | 1,336,027 | 1,246,813 | +7.2 |
| VOLKSWAGEN | 12.1 | 11.2 | 713,333 | 663,399 | +7.5 |
| AUDI | 4.8 | 4.4 | 284,371 | 262,236 | +8.4 |
| SEAT | 2.3 | 2.2 | 132,435 | 131,200 | +0.9 |
| SKODA | 3.5 | 3.2 | 205,053 | 189,148 | +8.4 |
| Others (1) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 835 | 830 | +0.6 |
| PSA Group | 13.2 | 13.9 | 776,357 | 826,461 | -6.1 |
| PEUGEOT | 7.2 | 7.6 | 420,964 | 450,588 | -6.6 |
| CITROEN | 6.0 | 6.3 | 355,393 | 375,873 | -5.4 |
| RENAULT Group | 9.7 | 10.5 | 571,272 | 623,971 | -8.4 |
| RENAULT | 7.9 | 8.7 | 466,199 | 515,504 | -9.6 |
| DACIA | 1.8 | 1.8 | 105,073 | 108,467 | -3.1 |
| GM Group | 8.7 | 8.2 | 510,968 | 488,008 | +4.7 |
| OPEL/VAUXHALL | 7.4 | 7.0 | 437,709 | 413,026 | +6.0 |
| CHEVROLET | 1.2 | 1.3 | 73,061 | 74,413 | -1.8 |
| GM (US) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 198 | 569 | -65.2 |
| FORD | 8.1 | 8.7 | 476,851 | 517,148 | -7.8 |
| FIAT Group | 7.3 | 8.4 | 430,443 | 498,264 | -13.6 |
| FIAT | 5.5 | 6.8 | 321,288 | 402,957 | -20.3 |
| LANCIA | 0.7 | 0.9 | 42,965 | 51,399 | -16.4 |
| ALFA ROMEO | 1.1 | 0.7 | 63,483 | 41,137 | +54.3 |
| Others (2) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2,707 | 2,771 | -2.3 |
| BMW Group | 5.6 | 4.9 | 329,138 | 292,456 | +12.5 |
| BMW | 4.5 | 4.0 | 263,874 | 238,738 | +10.5 |
| MINI | 1.1 | 0.9 | 65,264 | 53,718 | +21.5 |
| DAIMLER | 4.6 | 4.5 | 271,722 | 264,364 | +2.8 |
| MERCEDES | 4.0 | 3.9 | 236,609 | 229,420 | +3.1 |
| SMART | 0.6 | 0.6 | 35,113 | 34,944 | +0.5 |
| TOYOTA Group | 4.1 | 4.3 | 243,525 | 254,599 | -4.3 |
| TOYOTA | 4.0 | 4.2 | 232,507 | 246,578 | -5.7 |
| LEXUS | 0.2 | 0.1 | 11,018 | 8,021 | +37.4 |
| NISSAN | 3.4 | 2.8 | 199,879 | 164,724 | +21.3 |
| HYUNDAI | 2.8 | 2.6 | 165,460 | 153,244 | +8.0 |
| KIA | 1.9 | 1.9 | 109,263 | 112,825 | -3.2 |
| VOLVO CAR CORP. | 1.8 | 1.5 | 103,947 | 90,955 | +14.3 |
| SUZUKI | 1.3 | 1.4 | 77,892 | 83,288 | -6.5 |
| HONDA | 1.1 | 1.4 | 65,892 | 81,835 | -19.5 |
| MAZDA | 1.1 | 1.3 | 61,974 | 79,906 | -22.4 |
| MITSUBISHI | 0.8 | 0.6 | 49,146 | 35,571 | +38.2 |
| JAGUAR LAND ROVER Group | 0.7 | 0.7 | 40,642 | 41,921 | -3.0 |
| LAND ROVER | 0.5 | 0.5 | 31,391 | 30,653 | +2.4 |
| JAGUAR | 0.2 | 0.2 | 9,251 | 11,268 | -17.9 |
| CHRYSLER (3) | 0.2 | 0.3 | 11,785 | 17,242 | -31.6 |
| OTHER** | 0.9 | 1.0 | 53,447 | 60,143 | -11.1 |
All quiet on the manufacturer front, except for two skirmishes: The Volkswagen Group gained 1.7 percent market share in the first five months, further cementing its domination of the crumbling fortress Europe. The Fiat Group lost 1.1 percent share. The Japanese are holding their own with only minor losses YTD. Nissan even gained 0.6 percent of share.
Full data are here as PDF and here as Excel file.
