The battered European new car market continues its drive into the netherworld, but the speed of descent has lowered a little. According to data compiled and released by the European manufacturers association ACEA, 959,412 passenger vehicles were registered in October, 4.8% less than in October last year. It looks like the year will end with some 12 million cars sold, a level the EU 27 hasn’t seen since it existed.
January through October, new car registrations stand at 10,327,276 units, 7.3% less in than in the first ten months of 2011.
| Passenger Car Registrations EU October 2012 | ||||||
| Oct’12 | Oct’11 | YoY | YTD 12 | YTD 11 | YoY | |
| AUSTRIA | 26,322 | 28,909 | -8.9 | 293,212 | 302,448 | -3.1 |
| BELGIUM | 41,846 | 42,462 | -1.5 | 428,579 | 483,008 | -11.3 |
| BULGARIA | 1,512 | 1,729 | -12.6 | 15,764 | 16,083 | -2.0 |
| CYPRUS | 795 | 1,168 | -31.9 | 9,687 | 12,194 | -20.6 |
| CZECH REPUBLIC | 15,963 | 14,858 | +7.4 | 147,022 | 142,343 | +3.3 |
| DENMARK | 15,216 | 12,400 | +22.7 | 143,715 | 139,630 | +2.9 |
| ESTONIA | 1,474 | 1,335 | +10.4 | 14,788 | 12,740 | +16.1 |
| FINLAND | 8,182 | 10,070 | -18.7 | 97,115 | 110,179 | -11.9 |
| FRANCE | 162,335 | 176,103 | -7.8 | 1,593,844 | 1,837,374 | -13.3 |
| GERMANY | 259,529 | 258,253 | +0.5 | 2,618,327 | 2,659,989 | -1.6 |
| GREECE | 5,111 | 5,023 | +1.8 | 50,646 | 84,254 | -39.9 |
| HUNGARY | 4,047 | 3,511 | +15.3 | 43,369 | 37,326 | +16.2 |
| IRELAND | 1,661 | 1,566 | +6.1 | 78,286 | 88,729 | -11.8 |
| ITALY | 116,875 | 133,411 | -12.4 | 1,207,860 | 1,504,528 | -19.7 |
| LATVIA | 1,001 | 974 | +2.8 | 8,996 | 8,751 | +2.8 |
| LITHUANIA | 1,190 | 1,180 | +0.8 | 10,380 | 11,136 | -6.8 |
| LUXEMBURG | 4,454 | 3,923 | +13.5 | 43,544 | 43,532 | +0.0 |
| NETHERLANDS | 26,896 | 43,635 | -38.4 | 454,273 | 497,520 | -8.7 |
| POLAND | 22,146 | 22,650 | -2.2 | 229,209 | 225,194 | +1.8 |
| PORTUGAL | 7,388 | 9,137 | -19.1 | 81,827 | 132,601 | -38.3 |
| ROMANIA | 6,782 | 7,828 | -13.4 | 55,910 | 63,709 | -12.2 |
| SLOVAKIA | 4,796 | 5,751 | -16.6 | 58,641 | 55,705 | +5.3 |
| SLOVENIA | 3,738 | 4,547 | -17.8 | 42,445 | 50,925 | -16.7 |
| SPAIN | 44,873 | 57,278 | -21.7 | 600,237 | 681,199 | -11.9 |
| SWEDEN | 24,028 | 25,052 | -4.1 | 227,739 | 252,688 | -9.9 |
| UNITED KINGDOM | 151,252 | 134,944 | +12.1 | 1,771,861 | 1,688,038 | +5.0 |
| EU 27 | 959,412 | 1,007,697 | -4.8 | 10,327,276 | 11,141,823 | -7.3 |
Again, there is the story of the two Europes, with the UK and some eastern countries up solidly, with Germany flat, and problem states in the south down hard. Greece is up a bit, it looks like it can’t fall much harder than a 5,000 unit month. Greece is down nearly 40 percent for the year.
| Passenger Car Registrations EU October 2012 | ||||||||||
| October | January – October | |||||||||
| %Share | Units | Units | % Chg | %Share | Units | Units | % Chg | |||
| Oct’12 | Oct’11 | Oct’12 | Oct’11 | YoY | Oct’12 | Oct’11 | Oct’12 | Oct’11 | YoY | |
| ALL BRANDS | 959,412 | 1,007,697 | -4.8 | 10,327,276 | 11,141,823 | -7.3 | ||||
| VW Group | 25.5 | 23.9 | 244,595 | 240,628 | +1.6 | 24.7 | 23.2 | 2,553,841 | 2,580,242 | -1.0 |
| VOLKSWAGEN | 13.3 | 12.7 | 127,793 | 128,481 | -0.5 | 12.8 | 12.3 | 1,323,845 | 1,372,950 | -3.6 |
| AUDI | 5.9 | 5.1 | 56,517 | 51,093 | +10.6 | 5.6 | 5.0 | 582,528 | 553,454 | +5.3 |
| SEAT | 2.1 | 2.2 | 19,864 | 22,074 | -10.0 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 213,028 | 254,293 | -16.2 |
| SKODA | 3.9 | 3.9 | 37,156 | 38,845 | -4.3 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 395,722 | 397,864 | -0.5 |
| Others (1) | 0.3 | 0.0 | 3,265 | 135 | +2318.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 38,718 | 1,681 | |
| PSA Group | 12.3 | 12.3 | 118,143 | 124,435 | -5.1 | 12.0 | 12.7 | 1,238,680 | 1,411,805 | -12.3 |
| PEUGEOT | 6.7 | 6.6 | 63,997 | 66,978 | -4.5 | 6.5 | 6.9 | 668,932 | 767,632 | -12.9 |
| CITROEN | 5.6 | 5.7 | 54,146 | 57,457 | -5.8 | 5.5 | 5.8 | 569,748 | 644,173 | -11.6 |
| RENAULT Grp | 8.8 | 10.7 | 84,783 | 108,090 | -21.6 | 8.5 | 9.6 | 874,927 | 1,068,954 | -18.2 |
| RENAULT | 6.6 | 8.5 | 63,690 | 85,451 | -25.5 | 6.6 | 7.8 | 678,663 | 866,434 | -21.7 |
| DACIA | 2.2 | 2.2 | 21,093 | 22,639 | -6.8 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 196,264 | 202,520 | -3.1 |
| GM Group | 7.1 | 7.9 | 68,481 | 79,951 | -14.3 | 8.2 | 8.7 | 847,761 | 970,668 | -12.7 |
| OPEL/VXH | 6.0 | 6.6 | 57,758 | 66,274 | -12.8 | 6.8 | 7.4 | 700,422 | 825,590 | -15.2 |
| CHEVROLET | 1.1 | 1.4 | 10,704 | 13,645 | -21.6 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 147,078 | 144,678 | +1.7 |
| GM (US) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 19 | 32 | -40.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 261 | 400 | -34.8 |
| FORD | 7.5 | 7.8 | 72,330 | 78,861 | -8.3 | 7.6 | 8.1 | 786,989 | 898,767 | -12.4 |
| FIAT Group | 6.6 | 6.6 | 63,256 | 67,009 | -5.6 | 6.5 | 7.2 | 672,458 | 803,187 | -16.3 |
| FIAT | 4.9 | 4.8 | 47,148 | 48,309 | -2.4 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 490,926 | 583,172 | -15.8 |
| LANCIA/CHRY | 0.7 | 0.8 | 6,878 | 8,109 | -15.2 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 80,406 | 86,109 | -6.6 |
| ALFA ROMEO | 0.7 | 0.8 | 6,844 | 8,243 | -17.0 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 76,528 | 110,183 | -30.5 |
| JEEP | 0.2 | 0.2 | 2,110 | 2,038 | +3.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 21,324 | 18,382 | +16.0 |
| Others (2) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 276 | 310 | -11.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3,274 | 5,341 | -38.7 |
| BMW Group | 6.4 | 6.2 | 61,107 | 62,148 | -1.7 | 6.2 | 5.9 | 640,165 | 654,013 | -2.1 |
| BMW | 5.1 | 4.9 | 48,785 | 49,248 | -0.9 | 5.0 | 4.7 | 511,792 | 518,554 | -1.3 |
| MINI | 1.3 | 1.3 | 12,322 | 12,900 | -4.5 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 128,373 | 135,459 | -5.2 |
| DAIMLER | 5.4 | 5.0 | 51,330 | 49,987 | +2.7 | 5.2 | 4.9 | 532,894 | 547,528 | -2.7 |
| MERCEDES | 4.7 | 4.3 | 45,246 | 43,823 | +3.2 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 473,657 | 481,303 | -1.6 |
| SMART | 0.6 | 0.6 | 6,084 | 6,164 | -1.3 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 59,237 | 66,225 | -10.6 |
| TOYOTA Grp | 4.0 | 3.8 | 38,442 | 38,007 | +1.1 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 433,863 | 435,997 | -0.5 |
| TOYOTA | 3.8 | 3.6 | 36,805 | 36,195 | +1.7 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 411,804 | 415,350 | -0.9 |
| LEXUS | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1,637 | 1,812 | -9.7 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 22,059 | 20,647 | +6.8 |
| NISSAN | 3.4 | 3.2 | 32,197 | 32,136 | +0.2 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 360,602 | 380,240 | -5.2 |
| HYUNDAI | 3.4 | 2.9 | 32,355 | 29,162 | +10.9 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 350,608 | 321,491 | +9.1 |
| KIA | 2.8 | 2.8 | 27,107 | 28,639 | -5.3 | 2.7 | 2.1 | 277,999 | 237,646 | +17.0 |
| VOLVO | 2.0 | 1.9 | 19,220 | 18,758 | +2.5 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 176,930 | 198,380 | -10.8 |
| SUZUKI | 1.1 | 1.2 | 10,527 | 12,200 | -13.7 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 125,757 | 141,349 | -11.0 |
| HONDA | 1.0 | 1.2 | 9,970 | 12,215 | -18.4 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 115,615 | 122,217 | -5.4 |
| JLR Group | 0.9 | 0.8 | 8,656 | 7,734 | +11.9 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 101,419 | 78,549 | +29.1 |
| LAND ROVER | 0.8 | 0.6 | 7,258 | 6,206 | +17.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 81,822 | 59,266 | +38.1 |
| JAGUAR | 0.1 | 0.2 | 1,398 | 1,528 | -8.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 19,597 | 19,283 | +1.6 |
| MAZDA | 0.7 | 0.8 | 6,365 | 8,037 | -20.8 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 98,912 | 114,203 | -13.4 |
| MITSUBISHI | 0.6 | 0.7 | 5,281 | 7,117 | -25.8 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 58,840 | 87,859 | -33.0 |
| OTHER | 0.5 | 0.3 | 5,267 | 2,583 | +103.9 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 79,016 | 88,727 | -10.9 |
On the OEM side, Volkswagen Group continues to win the war of attrition. Its sales are up 1.6 percent for the month, and down only 1 percent for the year. More than a quarter of all cars sold in the EU in October came from the Volkswagen Group. After that, a bloodbath. Renault down 21.6 percent, GM down 14.3 percent Ford lost 8.3 percent, Fiat down 5.6 percent in October, an all of them down double digits for the year.
Continuing to drive Europeans crazy: Hyundai, up 10.9 percent in October. Sergio Marchionne implores the EU to keep the Koreans out, Hyundai smiles, knowing that most of its cars sold in Europe are made in Europe.
Speaking to representatives from a number of UK dealers, the picture is not as (relatively) rosy as it seems here.
Sales to private buyers remain worryingly low – the total is being held up by dumping to fleets,and increasingly by manufacturer/dealer pre-registrations. That is, they sell the cars to themselves and sell as delivery mileage used cars.
Anecdotally, the people I know are for the first time holding on to their 3 and 4 year old cars, with the general feeling being that there are worse economic times ahead.
Yep, Europe is in a recession and the Euro squabbling doesn’t help any.
JLR would be up by more than 30% if it wasn’t for the fact they are running out of capacity
But what percentage head from the factory to the roll on/roll off ship?