Out of concern for reader sensitivities, TTAC increased the age limit of its bikini beauties
Every year around this time, the two automotive editors that do not vacation say: “Where are July’s European sales numbers? Weren’t they supposed to be here a week ago?”
No. They will be he here in September. ACEA, the trade group that tallies these things, is closed, and it tans its industry body at Europe’s and the world’s beaches. Only in Europe does the employee’s right to month long holidays stand in the way of timely data.
This is the time of year when the private research company JATO can shine. Into the void created by a vacationing European manufacturers association, Jato comes with the news that according to its tally, the European new car market declined by 8.2 percent in July. Of the Big Five European volume markets, only Great Britain recorded increased sales. Only Audi was able to recorded a July sales increase among the top ten brands. With numbers like these, no wonder people leave the country.
| Sales by Market, July 2012 | ||||||
| Country | Jul’12 | Jul’11 | YoY | YTD’12 | YTD’11 | YoY |
| Austria | 28,268 | 29,307 | -3.5% | 215,227 | 216,900 | -0.8% |
| Belgium | 36,701 | 34,886 | 5.2% | 321,817 | 361,331 | -10.9% |
| Croatia | 2,670 | 3,616 | -26.2% | 22,928 | 26,849 | -14.6% |
| Cyprus | 879 | 923 | -4.8% | 6,672 | 8,124 | -17.9% |
| Czech Republic | 11,140 | 12,118 | -8.1% | 105,373 | 100,402 | 5.0% |
| Denmark | 16,707 | 13,046 | 28.1% | 100,902 | 100,769 | 0.1% |
| Estonia | 1,794 | 1,291 | 39.0% | 12,125 | 9,754 | 24.3% |
| Finland | 6,443 | 8,604 | -25.1% | 73,306 | 79,882 | -8.2% |
| France | 148,924 | 160,199 | -7.0% | 1,197,917 | 1,385,283 | -13.5% |
| Germany | 247,860 | 260,907 | -5.0% | 1,882,261 | 1,883,486 | -0.1% |
| Great Britain | 143,884 | 131,634 | 9.3% | 1,201,564 | 1,161,272 | 3.5% |
| Greece | 5,743 | 9,936 | -42.2% | 38,066 | 65,096 | -41.5% |
| Hungary | 4,477 | 3,738 | 19.8% | 32,472 | 27,050 | 20.0% |
| Iceland | 574 | 444 | 29.3% | 5,428 | 3,500 | 55.1% |
| Ireland | 4,431 | 4,072 | 8.8% | 71,088 | 81,172 | -12.4% |
| Italy | 109,421 | 139,548 | -21.6% | 1,074,556 | 1,158,707 | -7.3% |
| Latvia | 895 | 913 | -2.0% | 6,357 | 5,995 | 6.0% |
| Lithuania | 1,051 | 1,072 | -2.0% | 7,245 | 7,695 | -5.8% |
| Luxembourg | 4,195 | 4,529 | -7.4% | 32,851 | 33,125 | -0.8% |
| Norway | 12,133 | 11,417 | 6.3% | 82,394 | 80,794 | 2.0% |
| Poland | 20,830 | 23,008 | -9.5% | 169,501 | 159,677 | 6.2% |
| Portugal* | 11,411 | 14,275 | -20.1% | 64,852 | 106,181 | -38.9% |
| Romania | 6,005 | 8,501 | -29.4% | 39,348 | 40,257 | -2.3% |
| Serbia | 1,879 | 2,077 | -9.5% | 13,732 | 18,932 | -27.5% |
| Slovakia | 6,252 | 5,589 | 11.9% | 40,590 | 39,807 | 2.0% |
| Slovenia | 4,105 | 4,743 | -13.5% | 32,432 | 37,685 | -13.9% |
| Spain | 58,527 | 79,147 | -26.1% | 460,729 | 521,525 | -11.7% |
| Sweden | 18,074 | 19,621 | -7.9% | 160,707 | 176,663 | -9.0% |
| Switzerland | 23,921 | 25,464 | -6.1% | 199,953 | 183,694 | 8.9% |
| The Netherlands | 31,077 | 42,089 | -26.2% | 363,046 | 370,404 | -2.0% |
| Total | 970,271 | 1,056,714 | -8.2% | 8,035,439 | 8,452,011 | -4.9% |
| Top 10 Brands, July 2012 | ||||||
| Make | Jul’12 | Jul’11 | YoY | YTD’12 | YTD’11 | YoY |
| VOLKSWAGEN | 133,465 | 138,164 | -3.4% | 1,024,204 | 1,026,748 | -0.2% |
| FORD | 69,851 | 82,177 | -15.0% | 633,863 | 682,585 | -7.1% |
| PEUGEOT | 62,846 | 73,161 | -14.1% | 510,079 | 595,406 | -14.3% |
| OPEL/VAUXHALL | 62,359 | 73,412 | -15.1% | 547,184 | 626,054 | -12.6% |
| RENAULT | 62,148 | 77,575 | -19.9% | 534,563 | 649,512 | -17.7% |
| AUDI | 59,161 | 54,106 | 9.3% | 442,201 | 414,713 | 6.6% |
| CITROEN | 53,590 | 58,816 | -8.9% | 440,342 | 497,560 | -11.5% |
| FIAT | 46,236 | 53,260 | -13.2% | 407,014 | 452,264 | -10.0% |
| MERCEDES | 45,528 | 51,403 | -11.4% | 363,415 | 353,769 | 2.7% |
| BMW | 43,228 | 48,910 | -11.60% | 383,591 | 386,632 | -0.8% |
| Top 10 Models, July 2012 | ||||||
| Make & Model | Jul’12 | Jul’11 | YoY | YTD’12 | YTD’11 | YoY |
| VOLKSWAGEN GOLF | 32,403 | 38,903 | -16.7% | 278,470 | 294,376 | -5.4% |
| VOLKSWAGEN POLO | 23,512 | 30,597 | -23.2% | 192,469 | 220,962 | -12.9% |
| FORD FIESTA | 21,902 | 24,729 | -11.4% | 204,247 | 221,301 | -7.7% |
| OPEL/VAUXHALL ASTRA | 18,124 | 22,584 | -19.7% | 153,342 | 186,676 | -17.9% |
| PEUGEOT 208 | 17,986 | 0 | – | 55,598 | 0 | – |
| OPEL/VAUXHALL CORSA | 17,739 | 21,742 | -18.4% | 176,153 | 193,939 | -9.2% |
| NISSAN QASHQAI | 16,750 | 17,881 | -6.3% | 134,166 | 131,184 | 2.3% |
| FORD FOCUS | 16,711 | 24,512 | -31.8% | 160,225 | 175,394 | -8.6% |
| RENAULT CLIO | 16,490 | 21,552 | -23.5% | 150,413 | 185,197 | -18.8% |
| RENAULT MEGANE | 16,287 | 18,976 | -14.2% | 130,219 | 149,259 | -12.8% |
Mr. Schmitt, It would be in your best interest to dial-back on that age limit a bit…
Btw, why are some of the neg pct figures not in red, is there a significance to that?
Probably the formatting on vacation also …
The Truth About Cars. Now with granny porn.
Reminds me of the old French vacation thing of letting the family dog loose when on holiday. Visiting northern France in the late summer of 1986, I saw all these hungry, desperate, and very friendly stray dogs everywhere. So now the car stats are delayed so a few analysts are fretting.
Nice Bertel. LOL
If you keep this up the “Sensitivity Police” will have won.
It’s interesting looking at the numbers;
Many of the old Eastern Bloc countries are up nicely. Estonia, Hungry, Latvia.
While the imploding countries of Greece, Spain and Italy are down like a rock.
Its the economy baby.
Thanks for being sensitive… Now my eyes really hurt! (eek)
There is a small typo in the headline. It should indicate that sales in Europe are “sagging”.
‘Of the Big Five European volume markets, only Great Britain recorded increased sales.’
The Brits (rather wisely) decided against adopting the Euro. Coincidence? I think not.
And the Eurozone WONDERS why it is bankrupt? Vacation for a month? Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot…
I wonder how it came to be that Rocket 88 was elected the first rock and roll song. Louis Jordan was playing stuff like that in the mid-Forties.