European Car Market Struggling As Economies Suffer

AUTO CENTRAL – October 20, 2008: JATO Dynamics, the world’s leading provider of automotive data and intelligence, reports today that the total European car market has fallen by 8.3% (116,627 units) in September to 1,284,757 units. The Year-to-date total stands at 11,515,898 units, 4.4% (or 527,810 units) lower than in the same period in 2007.

“The post-holiday period is traditionally a month of strong car sales in Europe,” says Nasir Shah, Global Business Development Director at JATO. “However, given the dramatic economic developments of the last few weeks, it’s absolutely no surprise to see the market drop by a significant margin.”

Brand Performance
Volkswagen was Europe’s top-selling car brand in September, ahead of Ford, Opel/Vauxhall, Renault and Peugeot, which also reflects the top five market performer’s year-to-date.

Whilst nine of the top ten brands have posted a drop in sales compared to the first nine months of 2007, 6th placed Fiat is the only top ten brand to have posted sales growth during the same period, up 1.6%. However, outside the top ten, certain brands have managed to increase market share so far during 2008. Strong sales earlier in the year have kept 11th placed BMW up by 1.2% year-to-date, while Nissan is up an impressive 16.8% YtD. Of the other high volume brands, Skoda (up 0.7% YtD) Mazda (up 7.1% YtD), Mini (up 8.6% YtD), Smart (up 23.1% YtD) and Dacia (up 39.8% YtD), all have good reason to be optimistic so far in 2008.

September saw only one top ten brand post increased sales, with Audi up by an impressive 17.2%, buoyed by the strong performance of the new A4 model. As a premium brand, this is an impressive performance in September given the extraordinary economic climate.

Top Models
The Volkswagen Golf was once again Europe’s top-selling new car in September (up 5.1%), ahead of the Peugeot 207, Opel/Vauxhall Corsa, Ford Focus, Opel/Vauxhall Astra, Ford Fiesta, Renault Clio, Audi A4 (up 73.4%, thanks to the new model), Volkswagen Passat and Fiat Panda (up 12.0%), rounds off the top ten.

Year-to-date, the remarkable Golf again leads (up 12.2%), ahead of the Peugeot 207, Opel/Vauxhall Corsa, Ford Focus, Opel/Vauxhall Astra, Ford Fiesta, Renault Clio, Audi A4/S4/RS4, VW Passat and Fiat Panda.

National Trends
The UK new car market fell by almost 89,000 units in September compared to the same month in 2007, a drop of 21.2%, a factor that has significantly affected the overall European market total for the month.

“September is normally a successful month in the UK due to a registration-plate change”, says Shah. “But the UK is not alone in suffering losses, with Spain down by 31.9% and Italy down 5.9%. Nobody could have predicted falls like these a year ago, but in the current climate they are not a total surprise.”

Interestingly, Iceland, which like other key European markets has recently suffered significant losses in its banking sector, recorded the largest percentage fall in new car sales, falling by an astonishing 47.6%. Elsewhere, significant market falls have been recorded in Latvia (down 43.7%) and Ireland (down 39.8%).

But it’s not all doom and gloom in the markets. Luxembourg performed strongly compared to a very poor performance in September 2007, with a 133% rise in new car registrations. The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Cyprus have also recorded significantly increased new car markets in September.

For the year-to-date, the most significant falls have been in Spain (down 258,303 units, or 21.4%) and Italy (down 224,823 units, or 11.6%), while the most significant percentage drops have been in Latvia (down 34.3%) and Iceland (down 29.9%).

Slovakia and Lithuania have recorded the greatest growth YtD at 21.1% and 20.0% respectively. In terms of unit growth the French market leads ahead of Germany and Belgium.