The European car market accelerates its race to the bottom. Back from a long vacation, the European car manufacturers association ACEA reports that the EU car market was down 8.9 percent in August, after having dropped 7.8 percent in July. Eight months into the year, European car sales are down 7.1 percent as Europeans registered 8,268,642 new cars so far.
| New Car Sales EU, August 2012 | ||||||
| August | August | % Chg | Jan – Aug | Jan – Aug | % Chg | |
| ’12 | ’11 | 12/11 | ’12 | ’11 | 12/11 | |
| AUSTRIA | 24,570 | 25,884 | -5.1 | 239,796 | 242,784 | -1.2 |
| BELGIUM | 31,256 | 37,788 | -17.3 | 353,073 | 399,119 | -11.5 |
| BULGARIA | 1,519 | 1,644 | -7.6 | 12,905 | 12,636 | +2.1 |
| CYPRUS | 743 | 946 | -21.5 | 8,190 | 10,023 | -18.3 |
| CZECH REPUBLIC | 13,193 | 14,105 | -6.5 | 118,584 | 114,507 | +3.6 |
| DENMARK | 13,564 | 12,507 | +8.5 | 114,565 | 113,381 | +1.0 |
| ESTONIA | 1,423 | 1,312 | +8.5 | 11,872 | 9,988 | +18.9 |
| FINLAND | 7,535 | 10,024 | -24.8 | 80,918 | 89,998 | -10.1 |
| FRANCE | 96,067 | 108,462 | -11.4 | 1,293,973 | 1,493,745 | -13.4 |
| GERMANY | 226,455 | 237,561 | -4.7 | 2,108,716 | 2,121,047 | -0.6 |
| GREECE | 3,886 | 7,297 | -46.7 | 42,072 | 72,513 | -42.0 |
| HUNGARY | 3,539 | 3,428 | +3.2 | 35,799 | 30,315 | +18.1 |
| IRELAND | 3,098 | 3,238 | -4.3 | 74,158 | 84,396 | -12.1 |
| ITALY | 56,447 | 70,764 | -20.2 | 981,030 | 1,224,096 | -19.9 |
| LATVIA | 894 | 856 | +4.4 | 7,251 | 6,851 | +5.8 |
| LITHUANIA | 957 | 1,064 | -10.1 | 8,210 | 8,759 | -6.3 |
| LUXEMBURG | 2,899 | 3,018 | -3.9 | 35,750 | 36,143 | -1.1 |
| NETHERLANDS | 33,211 | 39,062 | -15.0 | 396,101 | 409,500 | -3.3 |
| POLAND | 18,088 | 19,597 | -7.7 | 188,178 | 181,408 | +3.7 |
| PORTUGAL | 5,443 | 8,131 | -33.1 | 68,103 | 114,259 | -40.4 |
| ROMANIA | 5,044 | 8,747 | -42.3 | 44,392 | 49,006 | -9.4 |
| SLOVAKIA | 5,947 | 5,190 | +14.6 | 46,515 | 44,956 | +3.5 |
| SLOVENIA | 3,072 | 4,170 | -26.3 | 35,504 | 41,855 | -15.2 |
| SPAIN | 48,820 | 47,223 | +3.4 | 520,216 | 568,349 | -8.5 |
| SWEDEN | 21,065 | 24,368 | -13.6 | 181,774 | 201,031 | -9.6 |
| UNITED KINGDOM | 59,433 | 59,346 | +0.1 | 1,260,997 | 1,220,618 | +3.3 |
| EUROPEAN UNION | 688,168 | 755,732 | -8.9 | 8,268,642 | 8,901,283 | -7.1 |
In August, the gap between north and south widened. The UK eked out a small 0.1 percent gain, Germany saw its sales contract by 4.7 percent, while France (-11.4 percent) and Italy (-20.2 percent) faced double-digit downturns. The Spanish market expanded by 3.4, which will turn out as a flash in the pan. Spain increased its VAT in September, which resulted in a small August rush on car dealerships. The revenge will come this month. In the first two weeks of September, car sales in Spain were down 28 percent.
| New Car Sales EU, August 2012 | ||||||
| August | Jan-Aug | |||||
| %Share | %Share | Units | Units | % Chg | % Chg | |
| ’12 | ’11 | ’12 | ’11 | 12/11 | +0.0 | |
| ALL BRANDS** | 688,168 | 755,732 | -8.9 | -7.1 | ||
| VW Group | 28.2 | 25.3 | 194,063 | 191,530 | +1.3 | -0.1 |
| VOLKSWAGEN | 14.5 | 13.6 | 99,661 | 102,841 | -3.1 | -2.4 |
| AUDI | 6.4 | 5.5 | 44,271 | 41,526 | +6.6 | +5.2 |
| SEAT | 2.6 | 2.4 | 17,892 | 18,271 | -2.1 | -16.2 |
| SKODA | 4.3 | 3.8 | 29,890 | 28,790 | +3.8 | +0.8 |
| Others (1) | 0.3 | 0.0 | 2,349 | 102 | +2202.9 | +2433.8 |
| PSA Group | 11.4 | 11.9 | 78,512 | 90,233 | -13.0 | -13.5 |
| PEUGEOT | 6.5 | 6.4 | 44,526 | 48,617 | -8.4 | -14.6 |
| CITROEN | 4.9 | 5.5 | 33,986 | 41,616 | -18.3 | -12.2 |
| RENAULT Group | 8.8 | 9.2 | 60,438 | 69,363 | -12.9 | -16.3 |
| RENAULT | 6.2 | 7.1 | 42,346 | 53,765 | -21.2 | -19.8 |
| DACIA | 2.6 | 2.1 | 18,092 | 15,598 | +16.0 | -1.3 |
| GM Group | 7.6 | 8.4 | 52,135 | 63,453 | -17.8 | -11.9 |
| OPEL/VAUXHALL | 6.2 | 6.9 | 42,387 | 52,239 | -18.9 | -15.4 |
| CHEVROLET | 1.4 | 1.5 | 9,738 | 11,183 | -12.9 | +7.5 |
| GM (US) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 10 | 31 | -67.7 | -35.2 |
| FORD | 6.0 | 7.7 | 41,536 | 58,403 | -28.9 | -12.3 |
| FIAT Group | 5.3 | 5.9 | 36,422 | 44,541 | -18.2 | -17.1 |
| FIAT | 4.0 | 4.3 | 27,231 | 32,303 | -15.7 | -17.2 |
| LANCIA/CHRYSLER | 0.5 | 0.6 | 3,634 | 4,884 | -25.6 | -4.2 |
| ALFA ROMEO | 0.6 | 0.7 | 3,841 | 5,649 | -32.0 | -31.2 |
| JEEP | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1,497 | 1,469 | +1.9 | +24.6 |
| Others (2) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 219 | 236 | -7.2 | -41.2 |
| BMW Group | 5.9 | 6.2 | 40,634 | 47,000 | -13.5 | -3.1 |
| BMW | 4.9 | 5.1 | 33,912 | 38,743 | -12.5 | -3.0 |
| MINI | 1.0 | 1.1 | 6,722 | 8,257 | -18.6 | -3.8 |
| DAIMLER | 5.5 | 5.1 | 37,711 | 38,214 | -1.3 | -2.7 |
| MERCEDES | 5.0 | 4.6 | 34,176 | 34,416 | -0.7 | -1.4 |
| SMART | 0.5 | 0.5 | 3,535 | 3,798 | -6.9 | -11.6 |
| TOYOTA Group | 4.3 | 4.2 | 29,550 | 31,454 | -6.1 | -1.0 |
| TOYOTA | 4.1 | 3.9 | 28,301 | 29,747 | -4.9 | -1.6 |
| LEXUS | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1,249 | 1,707 | -26.8 | +12.5 |
| NISSAN | 3.2 | 3.0 | 21,748 | 22,920 | -5.1 | -4.3 |
| HYUNDAI | 3.7 | 3.5 | 25,317 | 26,085 | -2.9 | +10.1 |
| KIA | 3.0 | 2.4 | 20,308 | 18,077 | +12.3 | +23.1 |
| VOLVO CAR CORP. | 1.3 | 1.4 | 9,091 | 10,756 | -15.5 | -11.6 |
| SUZUKI | 1.4 | 1.3 | 9,421 | 9,858 | -4.4 | -10.8 |
| HONDA | 1.1 | 0.9 | 7,905 | 6,596 | +19.8 | -5.8 |
| MAZDA | 1.0 | 1.0 | 6,749 | 7,537 | -10.5 | -10.9 |
| JAGUAR LAND ROVER Group | 0.6 | 0.3 | 3,849 | 2,601 | +48.0 | +35.5 |
| LAND ROVER | 0.5 | 0.2 | 3,256 | 1,883 | +73.0 | +44.6 |
| JAGUAR | 0.1 | 0.1 | 593 | 718 | -17.4 | +6.4 |
| MITSUBISHI | 0.6 | 0.9 | 4,377 | 6,441 | -32.0 | -33.4 |
| OTHER** | 1.2 | 1.4 | 8,402 | 10,670 | -21.3 | -18.0 |
On a manufacturer level, the Volkswagen Group holds its own with European sales up 1.3 percent in August and down only 0.1 percent for the first eight months. For the first time, the Volkswagen count also contains Porsche, in the “others” column together with Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini.
Sales of Ford were down drastically by 28.9 percent in August. GM is down 17.8 percent. The Fiat Group is down 18.2 percent. The two French makers slowed their descent in August.
Lack of credit and a worldwide global job inavailability has been hurting the global car sales for a while now. Cars on the road are getting older and used car sales are where the action is.
The Europeans need some good old sub prime lending like here in the U.S. to get the cars off the lots!
What?
No big blaring headline about how Ford Europe sales have seen the biggest drop in sales YTD out of the main players?